FFBC vs. WAFD, FRME, FMBI, TRMK, BANF, WBS, CBSH, WAL, CFR, and BPOP
Should you be buying First Financial Bancorp. stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Financial Bancorp. include WaFd (WAFD), First Merchants (FRME), First Midwest Bancorp (FMBI), Trustmark (TRMK), BancFirst (BANF), Webster Financial (WBS), Commerce Bancshares (CBSH), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR), and Popular (BPOP). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and community ranking.
WaFd has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WaFd, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
First Financial Bancorp. received 58 more outperform votes than WaFd when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 49.31% of users gave WaFd an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.
In the previous week, WaFd and WaFd both had 3 articles in the media. WaFd's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 0.94 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
WaFd pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. WaFd pays out 39.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 37.1% 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. WaFd has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
WaFd has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.
83.7% of WaFd shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of WaFd shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 20.74% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 15.33%. WaFd's return on equity of 11.22% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.
WaFd currently has a consensus price target of $33.25, indicating a potential upside of 18.71%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $24.67, indicating a potential upside of 10.61%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe WaFd is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..
Summary
WaFd beats First Financial Bancorp. on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FFBC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ 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.
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