LendingTree (TREE) Competitors

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) and LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, community ranking, risk and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility & risk, WAFD or TREE?

WaFd has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LendingTree has a beta of 1.9, suggesting that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

83.7% of WaFd shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.3% of LendingTree shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of WaFd shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of LendingTree shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better earnings and valuation, WAFD or TREE?

WaFd has higher earnings, but lower revenue than LendingTree. LendingTree is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WaFd, 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
WaFd	$725.16M	3.23	$200.04M	$2.17	13.25
LendingTree	$900.22M	0.80	-$122.40M	-$3.13	-17.08

Does the media refer more to WAFD or TREE?

In the previous week, LendingTree had 5 more articles in the media than WaFd. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for LendingTree and 4 mentions for WaFd. WaFd's average media sentiment score of 1.80 beat LendingTree's score of 0.80 indicating that WaFd is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Do analysts recommend WAFD or TREE?

WaFd currently has a consensus price target of $33.75, indicating a potential upside of 17.39%. LendingTree has a consensus price target of $65.75, indicating a potential upside of 22.97%. Given LendingTree's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe LendingTree is more favorable than WaFd.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WaFd	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
LendingTree	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is WAFD or TREE more profitable?

WaFd has a net margin of 12.66% compared to LendingTree's net margin of -4.72%. WaFd's return on equity of 8.78% beat LendingTree's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WaFd	12.66%	8.78%	0.82%
LendingTree	-4.72%	0.51%	0.08%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WAFD or TREE?

LendingTree received 415 more outperform votes than WaFd when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.81% of users gave LendingTree an outperform vote while only 48.11% of users gave WaFd an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
WaFd	Outperform Votes 216 48.11%	Underperform Votes 233 51.89%
LendingTree	Outperform Votes 631 68.81%	Underperform Votes 286 31.19%

Summary

LendingTree beats WaFd on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.