头对头评论：人民金融服务（纳斯达克：PFIS）与WSFS Financial（纳斯达克：WSFS）

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS – Get Rating) and Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares WSFS Financial and Peoples Financial Services' top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

WSFS Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Financial Services. WSFS Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Peoples Financial Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for WSFS Financial and Peoples Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

WSFS Financial presently has a consensus target price of $51.20, suggesting a potential upside of 45.58%. Peoples Financial Services has a consensus target price of $56.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.79%. Given WSFS Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe WSFS Financial is more favorable than Peoples Financial Services.

Profitability

This table compares WSFS Financial and Peoples Financial Services' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.1% of WSFS Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.2% of Peoples Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of WSFS Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Peoples Financial Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

WSFS Financial has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Financial Services has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

WSFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Peoples Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. WSFS Financial pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Financial Services pays out 32.8% 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. WSFS Financial has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Peoples Financial Services has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Peoples Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

WSFS Financial beats Peoples Financial Services on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WSFS Financial

(Get Rating)

WSFS Financial Corp. is a savings and loan holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following business segments: WSFS Bank, Cash Connect, and Wealth Management. The WSFS Bank segment provides loans and other financial products to commercial and retail customers. The Cash Connect segment offers ATM vault cash, cash safe, and other cash logistics services. The Wealth Management segment focuses on an array of fiduciary, investment management, credit, and deposit products to clients. The company was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE.

About Peoples Financial Services

(Get Rating)

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company. Its loan portfolio includes commercial and retail. The company was founded on February 6, 1986 and is headquartered in Scranton, PA.

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