LendingTree (TREE) Competitors

Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) and LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, community ranking, risk, media sentiment, profitability and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility and risk, NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LendingTree has a beta of 1.61, indicating that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NWBI or TREE?

LendingTree received 363 more outperform votes than Northwest Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.94% of users gave LendingTree an outperform vote while only 57.20% of users gave Northwest Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northwest Bancshares	Outperform Votes 274 57.20%	Underperform Votes 205 42.80%
LendingTree	Outperform Votes 637 68.94%	Underperform Votes 287 31.06%

Does the media favor NWBI or TREE?

In the previous week, LendingTree had 12 more articles in the media than Northwest Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for LendingTree and 2 mentions for Northwest Bancshares. Northwest Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat LendingTree's score of 0.15 indicating that Northwest Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northwest Bancshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
LendingTree	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts recommend NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.00%. LendingTree has a consensus price target of $64.13, suggesting a potential upside of 75.59%. Given LendingTree's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LendingTree is more favorable than Northwest Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northwest Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
LendingTree	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in NWBI or TREE?

66.3% of Northwest Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.3% of LendingTree shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Northwest Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.1% of LendingTree shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is NWBI or TREE more profitable?

Northwest Bancshares has a net margin of 13.26% compared to LendingTree's net margin of -4.72%. Northwest Bancshares' return on equity of 8.44% beat LendingTree's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Bancshares	13.26%	8.44%	0.92%
LendingTree	-4.72%	0.51%	0.08%

Which has better valuation and earnings, NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares has higher earnings, but lower revenue than LendingTree. LendingTree is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northwest Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northwest Bancshares	$545.45M	2.93	$100.28M	$0.90	13.89
LendingTree	$972.18M	0.51	-$122.40M	-$4.13	-8.84

Summary

LendingTree beats Northwest Bancshares on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.