Waterstone Financial (WSBF) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer WSBF or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial has a consensus price target of $20.67, indicating a potential upside of 20.09%. Given OceanFirst Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe OceanFirst Financial is more favorable than Waterstone Financial.

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

Does the media favor WSBF or OCFC?

In the previous week, OceanFirst Financial had 14 more articles in the media than Waterstone Financial. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for OceanFirst Financial and 3 mentions for Waterstone Financial. Waterstone Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat OceanFirst Financial's score of 0.88 indicating that Waterstone Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waterstone Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
OceanFirst Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in WSBF or OCFC?

62.7% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.4% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, WSBF or OCFC?

Waterstone Financial has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OceanFirst Financial has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WSBF or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial received 136 more outperform votes than Waterstone Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.84% of users gave OceanFirst Financial an outperform vote while only 52.71% of users gave Waterstone Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Waterstone Financial	Outperform Votes 146 52.71%	Underperform Votes 131 47.29%
OceanFirst Financial	Outperform Votes 282 55.84%	Underperform Votes 223 44.16%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, WSBF or OCFC?

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
Waterstone Financial	$129.79M	1.84	$18.69M	$1.02	12.12
OceanFirst Financial	$379.09M	2.65	$100.07M	$1.53	11.25

Is WSBF or OCFC a better dividend stock?

Waterstone Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. OceanFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Waterstone Financial pays out 58.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OceanFirst Financial pays out 52.3% 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.

Is WSBF or OCFC more profitable?

OceanFirst Financial has a net margin of 14.45% compared to Waterstone Financial's net margin of 9.23%.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waterstone Financial	9.23%	5.75%	0.86%
OceanFirst Financial	14.45%	5.75%	0.72%

Summary

OceanFirst Financial beats Waterstone Financial on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.