ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) Competitors

Capitol Federal Financial (NASDAQ:CFFN) and ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) 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, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Is CFFN or ESSA a better dividend stock?

Capitol Federal Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. ESSA Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Capitol Federal Financial pays out 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. ESSA Bancorp pays out 34.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CFFN or ESSA?

Capitol Federal Financial received 100 more outperform votes than ESSA Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.32% of users gave ESSA Bancorp an outperform vote while only 53.58% of users gave Capitol Federal Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Capitol Federal Financial	Outperform Votes 247 53.58%	Underperform Votes 214 46.42%
ESSA Bancorp	Outperform Votes 147 56.32%	Underperform Votes 114 43.68%

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

88.5% of Capitol Federal Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of ESSA Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of Capitol Federal Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of ESSA Bancorp 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.

Does the media refer more to CFFN or ESSA?

In the previous week, Capitol Federal Financial had 3 more articles in the media than ESSA Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Capitol Federal Financial and 3 mentions for ESSA Bancorp. Capitol Federal Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.78 beat ESSA Bancorp's score of 0.49 indicating that Capitol Federal Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Capitol Federal Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
ESSA Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, CFFN or ESSA?

Capitol Federal Financial has higher revenue and earnings than ESSA Bancorp. ESSA Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Capitol Federal Financial, 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
Capitol Federal Financial	$180.76M	4.22	$38.01M	$0.39	14.74
ESSA Bancorp	$65.86M	2.98	$16.99M	$1.74	11.10

Do analysts rate CFFN or ESSA?

Capitol Federal Financial currently has a consensus price target of $6.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.04%. Given Capitol Federal Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Capitol Federal Financial is more favorable than ESSA Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Capitol Federal Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
ESSA Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is CFFN or ESSA more profitable?

ESSA Bancorp has a net margin of 14.83% compared to Capitol Federal Financial's net margin of 12.67%. ESSA Bancorp's return on equity of 7.27% beat Capitol Federal Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Capitol Federal Financial	12.67%	4.96%	0.53%
ESSA Bancorp	14.83%	7.27%	0.75%

Which has more risk and volatility, CFFN or ESSA?

Capitol Federal Financial has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESSA Bancorp has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Capitol Federal Financial beats ESSA Bancorp on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.