ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) Competitors

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

Is TSBK or ESSA more profitable?

Timberland Bancorp has a net margin of 23.98% compared to ESSA Bancorp's net margin of 15.22%. Timberland Bancorp's return on equity of 10.34% beat ESSA Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Timberland Bancorp	23.98%	10.34%	1.30%
ESSA Bancorp	15.22%	7.61%	0.77%

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

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

Is TSBK or ESSA a better dividend stock?

Timberland Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. ESSA Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Timberland Bancorp pays out 31.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ESSA Bancorp pays out 33.7% 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, TSBK or ESSA?

Timberland Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESSA Bancorp has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor TSBK or ESSA?

In the previous week, Timberland Bancorp had 5 more articles in the media than ESSA Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Timberland Bancorp and 1 mentions for ESSA Bancorp. Timberland Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.83 beat ESSA Bancorp's score of 0.16 indicating that Timberland Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Timberland Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in TSBK or ESSA?

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

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, TSBK or ESSA?

Timberland Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
Timberland Bancorp	$91.09M	2.64	$27.12M	$3.02	10.00
ESSA Bancorp	$111.66M	1.72	$16.99M	$1.78	10.67

Do analysts recommend TSBK or ESSA?

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Timberland Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
ESSA Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Summary

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