Sterling Bancorp (SBT) Competitors

Sterling Bancorp (NASDAQ:SBT) and Capitol Federal Financial (NASDAQ:CFFN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of SBT or CFFN?

26.4% of Sterling Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.5% of Capitol Federal Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Sterling Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Capitol Federal Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is SBT or CFFN more profitable?

Capitol Federal Financial has a net margin of 9.95% compared to Sterling Bancorp's net margin of 4.45%. Capitol Federal Financial's return on equity of 4.69% beat Sterling Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sterling Bancorp	4.45%	1.83%	0.25%
Capitol Federal Financial	9.95%	4.69%	0.50%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SBT or CFFN?

Capitol Federal Financial received 83 more outperform votes than Sterling Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.57% of users gave Sterling Bancorp an outperform vote while only 53.70% of users gave Capitol Federal Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sterling Bancorp	Outperform Votes 164 63.57%	Underperform Votes 94 36.43%
Capitol Federal Financial	Outperform Votes 247 53.70%	Underperform Votes 213 46.30%

Which has more volatility & risk, SBT or CFFN?

Sterling Bancorp has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capitol Federal Financial has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor SBT or CFFN?

In the previous week, Sterling Bancorp and Sterling Bancorp both had 1 articles in the media. Capitol Federal Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.70 beat Sterling Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Capitol Federal Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, SBT or CFFN?

Capitol Federal Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Sterling Bancorp. Capitol Federal Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sterling 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
Sterling Bancorp	$129.57M	1.95	$7.41M	$0.13	37.23
Capitol Federal Financial	$382.09M	2.33	$38.01M	$0.29	23.17

Do analysts prefer SBT or CFFN?

Capitol Federal Financial has a consensus price target of $6.75, suggesting a potential upside of 0.45%. Given Capitol Federal Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Capitol Federal Financial is more favorable than Sterling Bancorp.

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

Summary

Capitol Federal Financial beats Sterling Bancorp on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.