Head-To-Head Survey: Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Broadway Financial (NASDAQ:BYFC)

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Broadway Financial (NASDAQ:BYFC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.1% of Broadway Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of Broadway Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Eastern Bankshares and Broadway Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	0	0	2	0	3.00
Broadway Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A

Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus target price of $17.75, suggesting a potential upside of 20.34%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Broadway Financial.

Risk & Volatility

Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Broadway Financial has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Broadway Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern Bankshares	48.38%	5.14%	0.68%
Broadway Financial	4.66%	2.16%	0.21%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Broadway Financial’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern Bankshares	$566.59 million	4.57	$232.18 million	$2.85	5.14
Broadway Financial	$52.58 million	0.87	$4.51 million	$0.30	16.73

Eastern Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Broadway Financial. Eastern Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Broadway Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Eastern Bankshares beats Broadway Financial on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts. It also offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and construction, small business, residential real estate, and home equity loans; lines of credit; and other consumer loans comprising unsecured personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, automobile loans, home improvement loans, airplane loans, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides trust, financial planning and portfolio management, automated lock box collection, cash management, and account reconciliation services; personal, business, and employee benefits insurance products. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Broadway Financial

Broadway Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for City First Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It accepts various deposit accounts, including savings accounts, checking accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, and fixed-term certificates of deposit. The company also offers mortgage loans, which are secured by multi-family residential properties; single family residential properties; and commercial real estate, including charter schools, community facilities, and churches, as well as commercial business, construction, and consumer loans. In addition, it invests in securities issued by federal government agencies, residential mortgage-backed securities, and other investments. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.