PFS vs. CATY, FFBC, NWBI, OBK, OCFC, RNST, STBA, UBSI, WSFS, and FCF
Should you be buying Provident Financial Services stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Provident Financial Services include Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC), Northwest Bancshares (NWBI), Origin Bancorp (OBK), OceanFirst Financial (OCFC), Renasant (RNST), S&T Bancorp (STBA), United Bankshares (UBSI), WSFS Financial (WSFS), and First Commonwealth Financial (FCF). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Provident Financial Services vs. Its Competitors
Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) and Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Cathay General Bancorp has a net margin of 21.44% compared to Provident Financial Services' net margin of 16.97%. Cathay General Bancorp's return on equity of 10.39% beat Provident Financial Services' return on equity.
In the previous week, Provident Financial Services had 2 more articles in the media than Cathay General Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Provident Financial Services and 11 mentions for Cathay General Bancorp. Cathay General Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat Provident Financial Services' score of 0.81 indicating that Cathay General Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.
75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.0% of Provident Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Provident Financial Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $49.71, suggesting a potential downside of 0.44%. Provident Financial Services has a consensus target price of $22.70, suggesting a potential upside of 12.63%. Given Provident Financial Services' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Provident Financial Services is more favorable than Cathay General Bancorp.
Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Provident Financial Services has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Provident Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 32.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Provident Financial Services pays out 54.2% 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.
Cathay General Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Provident Financial Services. Provident Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cathay General Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Cathay General Bancorp beats Provident Financial Services on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding PFS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Provident Financial Services Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:PFS) was last updated on 9/18/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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