Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) & Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Head to Head Analysis

Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) and Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Catalyst Bancorp and Heritage Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Catalyst Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Heritage Financial	0	4	4	0	2.50

Heritage Financial has a consensus price target of $32.67, indicating a potential upside of 15.59%. Given Heritage Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Heritage Financial is more favorable than Catalyst Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Heritage Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 10.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Heritage Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Catalyst Bancorp and Heritage Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Catalyst Bancorp	$23.69 million	2.97	$2.05 million	$0.69	25.30
Heritage Financial	$335.97 million	3.41	$67.53 million	$2.01	14.06

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

Volatility & Risk

Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.11, suggesting that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heritage Financial has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Catalyst Bancorp and Heritage Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Catalyst Bancorp	12.48%	4.14%	1.18%
Heritage Financial	19.24%	8.70%	1.14%

Summary

Heritage Financial beats Catalyst Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Catalyst Bancorp

Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Opelousas, Louisiana. Through its subsidiary, St. Landry Homestead Federal Savings Bank, the company provides community banking services to individuals, families and businesses. St. Landry Homestead offers a range of financial products, including deposit accounts, residential mortgage loans, consumer lending, commercial real estate loans and other business financing. Its services also include digital banking and related transaction and cash-management solutions.

About Heritage Financial

Heritage Financial Corporation is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Heritage Bank, provides commercial and consumer banking services. Its offerings include business and personal deposit accounts, commercial and residential lending, mortgage services, cash management and other banking services. The company serves individuals, businesses and organizations in Washington and Oregon, with a focus on communities in the Pacific Northwest. Its services include financing for businesses and real estate, as well as everyday banking and digital account services.