LendingTree (TREE) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, NWBI or TREE?

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

Do analysts recommend NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.07%. LendingTree has a consensus price target of $64.13, suggesting a potential upside of 65.57%. 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

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	$756.21M	2.22	$100.28M	$0.90	14.61
LendingTree	$900.22M	0.58	-$41.70M	-$4.13	-9.38

Does the media favor NWBI or TREE?

In the previous week, LendingTree had 7 more articles in the media than Northwest Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for LendingTree and 2 mentions for Northwest Bancshares. LendingTree's average media sentiment score of 0.15 beat Northwest Bancshares' score of -1.05 indicating that LendingTree is being referred to more favorably in the news 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)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
LendingTree	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is NWBI or TREE more profitable?

Northwest Bancshares has a net margin of 14.75% compared to LendingTree's net margin of -5.67%. LendingTree's return on equity of 14.76% beat Northwest Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Bancshares	14.75%	9.24%	1.02%
LendingTree	-5.67%	14.76%	2.13%

Do insiders and 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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

LendingTree beats Northwest Bancshares on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.