LendingTree (TREE) Competitors

Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) and LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of NWBI or TREE?

66.3% of Northwest Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.3% of LendingTree shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Northwest Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of LendingTree shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LendingTree has a beta of 2.07, suggesting that its stock price is 107% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NWBI or TREE?

LendingTree received 351 more outperform votes than Northwest Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.61% of users gave LendingTree an outperform vote while only 57.20% of users gave Northwest Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northwest Bancshares	Outperform Votes 274 57.20%	Underperform Votes 205 42.80%
LendingTree	Outperform Votes 625 68.61%	Underperform Votes 286 31.39%

Does the media favor NWBI or TREE?

In the previous week, LendingTree had 9 more articles in the media than Northwest Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for LendingTree and 4 mentions for Northwest Bancshares. Northwest Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat LendingTree's score of 0.30 indicating that Northwest Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northwest Bancshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
LendingTree	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is NWBI or TREE more profitable?

Northwest Bancshares has a net margin of 13.26% compared to LendingTree's net margin of -4.72%. Northwest Bancshares' return on equity of 8.44% beat LendingTree's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Bancshares	13.26%	8.44%	0.92%
LendingTree	-4.72%	0.51%	0.08%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares has higher earnings, but lower revenue than LendingTree. LendingTree is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northwest Bancshares, 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
Northwest Bancshares	$520.47M	3.10	$100.28M	$0.79	16.03
LendingTree	$773.05M	0.66	-$122.40M	-$2.70	-14.13

Do analysts recommend NWBI or TREE?

Northwest Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $12.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.26%. LendingTree has a consensus target price of $67.71, suggesting a potential upside of 77.54%. Given LendingTree's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LendingTree is more favorable than Northwest Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northwest Bancshares	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
LendingTree	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

LendingTree beats Northwest Bancshares on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.