Washington Federal (WAFD) Competitors

Washington Federal (NASDAQ:WAFD) and WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, valuation, profitability, dividends, community ranking and institutional ownership.

Do analysts prefer WAFD or WSFS?

Washington Federal presently has a consensus price target of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.01%. WSFS Financial has a consensus price target of $51.20, indicating a potential upside of 49.49%. Given WSFS Financial's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WSFS Financial is more favorable than Washington Federal.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Washington Federal	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
WSFS Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Which has more risk and volatility, WAFD or WSFS?

Washington Federal has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WSFS Financial has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WAFD or WSFS more profitable?

Washington Federal has a net margin of 31.00% compared to WSFS Financial's net margin of 26.79%. Washington Federal's return on equity of 14.12% beat WSFS Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Washington Federal	31.00%	14.12%	1.33%
WSFS Financial	26.79%	13.06%	1.44%

Does the media prefer WAFD or WSFS?

In the previous week, Washington Federal had 1 more articles in the media than WSFS Financial. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Washington Federal and 3 mentions for WSFS Financial. WSFS Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Washington Federal's score of 1.12 indicating that WSFS Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Washington Federal	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
WSFS Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, WAFD or WSFS?

Washington Federal has higher earnings, but lower revenue than WSFS Financial. Washington Federal is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WSFS Financial, 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
Washington Federal	$732.73 million	2.40	$236.33 million	$4.09	6.55
WSFS Financial	$963.95 million	2.18	$222.38 million	$4.48	7.65

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of WAFD or WSFS?

80.4% of Washington Federal shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.1% of WSFS Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Washington Federal shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of WSFS Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WAFD or WSFS?

Washington Federal received 14 more outperform votes than WSFS Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 51.82% of users gave WSFS Financial an outperform vote while only 51.45% of users gave Washington Federal an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Washington Federal	Outperform Votes 213 51.45%	Underperform Votes 201 48.55%
WSFS Financial	Outperform Votes 199 51.82%	Underperform Votes 185 48.18%

Is WAFD or WSFS a better dividend stock?

Washington Federal pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. WSFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Washington Federal pays out 24.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WSFS Financial pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

WSFS Financial beats Washington Federal on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.