Waterstone Financial (WSBF) Competitors

Waterstone Financial (NASDAQ:WSBF) and OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership and earnings.

Do analysts prefer WSBF or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial has a consensus price target of $20.83, indicating a potential upside of 22.44%. Given OceanFirst Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe OceanFirst Financial is more favorable than Waterstone Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waterstone Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
OceanFirst Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to WSBF or OCFC?

In the previous week, OceanFirst Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Waterstone Financial. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for OceanFirst Financial and 4 mentions for Waterstone Financial. OceanFirst Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.67 beat Waterstone Financial's score of 0.83 indicating that OceanFirst Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waterstone Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
OceanFirst Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is WSBF or OCFC more profitable?

OceanFirst Financial has a net margin of 14.45% compared to Waterstone Financial's net margin of 9.23%.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waterstone Financial	9.23%	5.75%	0.86%
OceanFirst Financial	14.45%	5.75%	0.72%

Is WSBF or OCFC a better dividend stock?

Waterstone Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. OceanFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Waterstone Financial pays out 59.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OceanFirst Financial pays out 48.5% 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. OceanFirst Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of WSBF or OCFC?

62.7% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.3% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by company 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 better valuation & earnings, WSBF or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Waterstone Financial. OceanFirst Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waterstone Financial, 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
Waterstone Financial	$132.38M	1.98	$18.69M	$1.01	13.45
OceanFirst Financial	$379.81M	2.62	$100.07M	$1.65	10.31

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WSBF or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial received 136 more outperform votes than Waterstone Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.86% of users gave OceanFirst Financial an outperform vote while only 52.73% of users gave Waterstone Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Waterstone Financial	Outperform Votes 145 52.73%	Underperform Votes 130 47.27%
OceanFirst Financial	Outperform Votes 281 55.86%	Underperform Votes 222 44.14%

Which has more risk & volatility, WSBF or OCFC?

Waterstone Financial has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OceanFirst Financial has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

OceanFirst Financial beats Waterstone Financial on 17 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.