Provident Financial Services (PFS) Competitors

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) and MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings and community ranking.

Does the media refer more to PFS or MTG?

In the previous week, MGIC Investment had 6 more articles in the media than Provident Financial Services. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for MGIC Investment and 3 mentions for Provident Financial Services. Provident Financial Services' average media sentiment score of 1.72 beat MGIC Investment's score of 1.32 indicating that Provident Financial Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Provident Financial Services	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
MGIC Investment	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate PFS or MTG?

Provident Financial Services presently has a consensus target price of $24.25, suggesting a potential upside of 42.47%. MGIC Investment has a consensus target price of $26.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.89%. Given Provident Financial Services' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Provident Financial Services is more favorable than MGIC Investment.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Provident Financial Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
MGIC Investment	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.13

Is PFS or MTG a better dividend stock?

Provident Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. MGIC Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Provident Financial Services pays out 86.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MGIC Investment pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MGIC Investment has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, PFS or MTG?

MGIC Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Provident Financial Services. MGIC Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Provident Financial Services, 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
Provident Financial Services	$789.01M	2.82	$115.53M	$1.11	15.33
MGIC Investment	$1.22B	5.11	$762.99M	$3.01	8.73

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PFS or MTG?

MGIC Investment received 188 more outperform votes than Provident Financial Services when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.30% of users gave MGIC Investment an outperform vote while only 59.80% of users gave Provident Financial Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Provident Financial Services	Outperform Votes 296 59.80%	Underperform Votes 199 40.20%
MGIC Investment	Outperform Votes 484 66.30%	Underperform Votes 246 33.70%

Which has more volatility and risk, PFS or MTG?

Provident Financial Services has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MGIC Investment has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of PFS or MTG?

72.0% of Provident Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.6% of MGIC Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Provident Financial Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of MGIC Investment shares are owned 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.

Is PFS or MTG more profitable?

MGIC Investment has a net margin of 63.18% compared to Provident Financial Services' net margin of 10.13%. MGIC Investment's return on equity of 14.86% beat Provident Financial Services' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Provident Financial Services	10.13%	5.60%	0.62%
MGIC Investment	63.18%	14.86%	11.69%

Summary

MGIC Investment beats Provident Financial Services on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.