LendingTree (TREE) Competitors

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) and LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, community ranking, profitability, earnings, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership and valuation.

Is BANC or TREE more profitable?

Banc of California has a net margin of 7.06% compared to LendingTree's net margin of -4.72%. Banc of California's return on equity of 6.20% beat LendingTree's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banc of California	7.06%	6.20%	0.53%
LendingTree	-4.72%	0.51%	0.08%

Which has more risk & volatility, BANC or TREE?

Banc of California has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LendingTree has a beta of 2.06, indicating that its share price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

86.9% of Banc of California shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.3% of LendingTree shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Banc of California shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of LendingTree shares are held 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.

Do analysts recommend BANC or TREE?

Banc of California presently has a consensus price target of $18.20, indicating a potential upside of 13.75%. LendingTree has a consensus price target of $64.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.44%. Given LendingTree's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LendingTree is more favorable than Banc of California.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banc of California	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70
LendingTree	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, BANC or TREE?

Banc of California has higher revenue and earnings than LendingTree. LendingTree is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banc of California, 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
Banc of California	$1.89B	1.34	$126.89M	$0.56	28.57
LendingTree	$672.50M	0.89	-$122.40M	-$2.70	-16.64

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer BANC or TREE?

LendingTree received 303 more outperform votes than Banc of California when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.65% of users gave LendingTree an outperform vote while only 58.05% of users gave Banc of California an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Banc of California	Outperform Votes 321 58.05%	Underperform Votes 232 41.95%
LendingTree	Outperform Votes 624 68.65%	Underperform Votes 285 31.35%

Does the media favor BANC or TREE?

In the previous week, Banc of California had 5 more articles in the media than LendingTree. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Banc of California and 17 mentions for LendingTree. LendingTree's average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Banc of California's score of 0.28 indicating that LendingTree is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Banc of California	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
LendingTree	6 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Banc of California beats LendingTree on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.