NB Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBK) versus East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Head-To-Head Survey

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and NB Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Dividends

East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. NB Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. East West Bancorp pays out 30.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NB Bancorp pays out 18.5% 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. East West Bancorp has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. East West Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of East West Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of NB Bancorp shares are held 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.

Risk & Volatility

East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NB Bancorp has a beta of -0.01, meaning that its share price is 101% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for East West Bancorp and NB Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
East West Bancorp	0	4	10	1	2.80
NB Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00

East West Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $144.69, indicating a potential upside of 14.00%. NB Bancorp has a consensus target price of $25.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.94%. Given East West Bancorp’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than NB Bancorp.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares East West Bancorp and NB Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
East West Bancorp	$3.07 billion	5.67	$1.33 billion	$10.40	12.20
NB Bancorp	$351.74 million	2.84	$50.30 million	$1.51	15.09

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

Profitability

This table compares East West Bancorp and NB Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
East West Bancorp	30.45%	16.07%	1.75%
NB Bancorp	14.27%	9.13%	1.10%

Summary

East West Bancorp beats NB Bancorp on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for East West Bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other. It accepts various deposit products, such as personal and business checking and savings accounts, money market, and time deposits. The company’s loan products include mortgage and home equity, commercial and residential real estate, working capital lines of credit, construction finance, trade finance, letters of credit, commercial business, affordable housing loans, asset-based lending, asset-backed finance, project finance, loan syndication, and equipment financing, as well as financing services for clients to facilitate their business transactions between the United States and Asia. It also provides various wealth management, treasury management, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk hedging services; and mobile and online banking services. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.

About NB Bancorp

NB Bancorp, Inc. focuses on operating as a bank holding company for Needham Bank that provides various banking products and services in Greater Boston metropolitan area and surrounding communities in Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut, southern New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The company offers various deposits, including certificate of deposit, individual retirement, money market, savings, NOW, demand deposit, and interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts; and commercial real estate and multifamily, one- to four-family residential real estate, construction and land development, commercial and industrial, and consumer loans, as well as home equity loans and lines of credit. It also invests in securities consisting of U.S. treasury and federal agency securities, government-sponsored residential mortgage-backed securities, municipal bonds, and corporate bonds. The company was founded in 1892 and is based in Needham, Massachusetts.