ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, ESSA or TSBK?

ESSA Bancorp has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Timberland Bancorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, ESSA or TSBK?

Timberland Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than ESSA Bancorp. Timberland Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ESSA 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
ESSA Bancorp	$111.66M	1.83	$16.99M	$1.78	11.33
Timberland Bancorp	$105.96M	2.45	$24.28M	$3.00	10.87

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ESSA or TSBK?

54.2% of ESSA Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.5% of Timberland Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 7.5% of ESSA Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Timberland Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor ESSA or TSBK?

In the previous week, Timberland Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than ESSA Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Timberland Bancorp and 1 mentions for ESSA Bancorp. Timberland Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.79 beat ESSA Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Timberland Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESSA Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Timberland Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is ESSA or TSBK a better dividend stock?

ESSA Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Timberland Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. ESSA Bancorp pays out 33.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Timberland Bancorp pays out 33.3% 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. Timberland Bancorp has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Timberland Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is ESSA or TSBK more profitable?

Timberland Bancorp has a net margin of 22.92% compared to ESSA Bancorp's net margin of 15.22%. Timberland Bancorp's return on equity of 10.16% beat ESSA Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESSA Bancorp	15.22%	7.61%	0.77%
Timberland Bancorp	22.92%	10.16%	1.28%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ESSA or TSBK?

Timberland Bancorp received 123 more outperform votes than ESSA Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.23% of users gave Timberland Bancorp an outperform vote while only 58.57% of users gave ESSA Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
ESSA Bancorp	Outperform Votes 147 58.57%	Underperform Votes 104 41.43%
Timberland Bancorp	Outperform Votes 270 69.23%	Underperform Votes 120 30.77%

Summary

Timberland Bancorp beats ESSA Bancorp on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.