CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) Head-To-Head Comparison

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for CVB Financial and FS Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CVB Financial	0	2	3	0	2.60
FS Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50

CVB Financial currently has a consensus target price of $24.13, indicating a potential upside of 7.46%. FS Bancorp has a consensus target price of $46.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.43%. Given CVB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe CVB Financial is more favorable than FS Bancorp.

Dividends

CVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. FS Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. CVB Financial pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FS Bancorp pays out 27.0% 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. FS Bancorp has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CVB Financial and FS Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CVB Financial	$648.47 million	6.11	$209.30 million	$1.52	14.77
FS Bancorp	$219.52 million	1.07	$33.35 million	$4.29	10.07

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CVB Financial	32.05%	9.16%	1.34%
FS Bancorp	14.91%	10.88%	1.04%

Volatility & Risk

CVB Financial has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FS Bancorp has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.2% of CVB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.9% of FS Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of CVB Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of FS Bancorp 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.

Summary

CVB Financial beats FS Bancorp on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers. The company also provides commercial lending products comprising lines of credit and other working capital financing, accounts receivable lending, and letters of credit; agriculture loans to finance the operating needs of wholesale dairy farm operations, cattle feeders, livestock raisers, and farmers; lease financing services for municipal governments; commercial real estate and construction loans; and consumer financing products, including automobile leasing and financing, lines of credit, credit cards, home mortgages, and home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it offers various specialized services, such as treasury management systems for monitoring cash flow, merchant card processing program, armored pick-up and delivery, payroll services, remote deposit capture, electronic funds transfers, wires and automated clearinghouse, and online account access. Further, the company provides trust services, such as fiduciary services, mutual funds, annuities, 401(k) plans, and individual investment accounts. CVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ontario, California.

About FS Bancorp

FS Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for 1st Security Bank of Washington that provides banking and financial services to local families, local and regional businesses, and industry niches. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Consumer Banking; and Home Lending. It offers various deposit instruments, including checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company provides one-to-four-family residential first mortgages, second mortgage/home equity loan products, non-mortgage commercial business loans, commercial real estate loans, and construction and development loans, as well as consumer loans, which primarily include personal lines of credit, credit cards, automobile, direct home improvement, loans on deposit, and recreational loans. It operates full bank service branches and home loan production offices in suburban communities in the greater Puget Sound area, including Snohomish, King, Pierce, Jefferson, Kitsap, Clallam, Grays Harbor, and Thurston counties; and a loan production office in the market area of the Tri-Cities. FS Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.