Waterstone Financial (WSBF) Competitors

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) and Waterstone Financial (NASDAQ:WSBF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in OCFC or WSBF?

71.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is OCFC or WSBF more profitable?

OceanFirst Financial has a net margin of 13.59% compared to Waterstone Financial's net margin of 9.38%. Waterstone Financial's return on equity of 5.51% beat OceanFirst Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OceanFirst Financial	13.59%	5.38%	0.68%
Waterstone Financial	9.38%	5.51%	0.84%

Do analysts rate OCFC or WSBF?

OceanFirst Financial currently has a consensus target price of $20.67, indicating a potential upside of 10.13%. Given OceanFirst Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe OceanFirst Financial is more favorable than Waterstone Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OceanFirst Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Waterstone Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more risk and volatility, OCFC or WSBF?

OceanFirst Financial has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waterstone Financial has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is OCFC or WSBF a better dividend stock?

OceanFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Waterstone Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. OceanFirst Financial pays out 52.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Waterstone Financial pays out 58.8% 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. OceanFirst Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to OCFC or WSBF?

In the previous week, OceanFirst Financial had 6 more articles in the media than Waterstone Financial. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for OceanFirst Financial and 1 mentions for Waterstone Financial. OceanFirst Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.50 beat Waterstone Financial's score of -0.57 indicating that OceanFirst Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
OceanFirst Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Waterstone Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, OCFC or WSBF?

OceanFirst Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Waterstone Financial. OceanFirst Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waterstone 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
OceanFirst Financial	$692.36M	1.58	$100.07M	$1.53	12.26
Waterstone Financial	$202.47M	1.35	$18.69M	$1.02	13.92

Summary

OceanFirst Financial beats Waterstone Financial on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.