Equity Bancshares (EQBK) Competitors

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) and Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) are both banking companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Is EQBK or BFH a better dividend stock?

Equity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Bread Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Equity Bancshares pays out 14.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bread Financial pays out 14.2% 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.

Does the media favor EQBK or BFH?

In the previous week, Bread Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Equity Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Bread Financial and 7 mentions for Equity Bancshares. Bread Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Equity Bancshares' score of 0.39 indicating that Bread Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Equity Bancshares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Bread Financial	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of EQBK or BFH?

71.8% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.5% of Bread Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.6% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Bread Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend EQBK or BFH?

Bread Financial has a consensus price target of $64.91, suggesting a potential downside of 2.09%. Given Bread Financial's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bread Financial is more favorable than Equity Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equity Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00
Bread Financial	3 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.08

Is EQBK or BFH more profitable?

Equity Bancshares has a net margin of 19.99% compared to Bread Financial's net margin of 6.05%. Bread Financial's return on equity of 13.10% beat Equity Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Bancshares	19.99%	12.17%	1.33%
Bread Financial	6.05%	13.10%	1.83%

Which has more risk and volatility, EQBK or BFH?

Equity Bancshares has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bread Financial has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, EQBK or BFH?

Bread Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Equity Bancshares. Equity Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bread 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
Equity Bancshares	$335.67M	2.42	$62.62M	$4.03	10.48
Bread Financial	$4.80B	0.64	$277M	$5.91	11.22

Summary

Bread Financial beats Equity Bancshares on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.