Hope Bancorp (HOPE) Competitors

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) and Meridian Bancorp (NASDAQ:EBSB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, media sentiment, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, community ranking and institutional ownership.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HOPE or EBSB?

Hope Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Meridian Bancorp. Hope Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Meridian Bancorp, 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
Hope Bancorp	$549.92M	2.31	$133.67M	$1.00	10.53
Meridian Bancorp	$269.38M	4.72	$65.05M	$1.52	15.89

Does the media refer more to HOPE or EBSB?

In the previous week, Hope Bancorp had 11 more articles in the media than Meridian Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Hope Bancorp and 0 mentions for Meridian Bancorp. Hope Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.21 beat Meridian Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Hope Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Hope Bancorp	Neutral
Meridian Bancorp	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, HOPE or EBSB?

Hope Bancorp has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Meridian Bancorp has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HOPE or EBSB a better dividend stock?

Hope Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Meridian Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Hope Bancorp pays out 56.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Meridian Bancorp pays out 26.3% 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 HOPE or EBSB more profitable?

Meridian Bancorp has a net margin of 31.56% compared to Hope Bancorp's net margin of 10.80%. Meridian Bancorp's return on equity of 9.75% beat Hope Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hope Bancorp	10.80%	6.43%	0.69%
Meridian Bancorp	31.56%	9.75%	1.21%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in HOPE or EBSB?

84.0% of Hope Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.5% of Meridian Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Hope Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Meridian Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate HOPE or EBSB?

Hope Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $11.83, indicating a potential upside of 12.38%. Given Hope Bancorp's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Hope Bancorp is more favorable than Meridian Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hope Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Meridian Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HOPE or EBSB?

Hope Bancorp received 11 more outperform votes than Meridian Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 51.47% of users gave Hope Bancorp an outperform vote while only 49.70% of users gave Meridian Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hope Bancorp	Outperform Votes 262 51.47%	Underperform Votes 247 48.53%
Meridian Bancorp	Outperform Votes 251 49.70%	Underperform Votes 254 50.30%

Summary

Hope Bancorp beats Meridian Bancorp on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.