SLM (NASDAQ:SLM – Get Free Report) and Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.
Risk & Volatility
SLM has a beta of 1.17, indicating that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bread Financial has a beta of 1.92, indicating that its stock price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares SLM and Bread Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
SLM | 25.15% | 45.65% | 2.63% |
Bread Financial | 8.08% | 14.44% | 1.88% |
Dividends
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares SLM and Bread Financial’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
SLM | $1.94 billion | 2.48 | $581.39 million | $3.20 | 6.86 |
Bread Financial | $5.17 billion | 0.39 | $718.00 million | $7.94 | 5.07 |
Bread Financial has higher revenue and earnings than SLM. Bread Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SLM, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for SLM and Bread Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
SLM | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2.80 |
Bread Financial | 4 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1.93 |
SLM presently has a consensus target price of $21.32, suggesting a potential downside of 2.83%. Bread Financial has a consensus target price of $39.17, suggesting a potential downside of 2.72%. Given Bread Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bread Financial is more favorable than SLM.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
98.9% of SLM shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.5% of Bread Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of SLM shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Bread Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
About SLM
SLM Corporation, through its subsidiaries, originates and services private education loans to students and their families to finance the cost of their education in the United States. It is also involved in the provision of retail deposit accounts, including certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and high-yield savings accounts; and interest-bearing omnibus accounts. The company was formerly known as New BLC Corporation and changed its name to SLM Corporation in December 2013. SLM Corporation was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Newark, Delaware.
About Bread Financial
Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. provides tech-forward payment and lending solutions to customers and consumer-based industries in North America. It offers credit card and other loans financing services, including risk management solutions, account origination, and funding services for private label and co-brand credit card programs, as well as through Bread partnerships; and Comenity-branded general purpose cash-back credit. The company also manages and services the loans it originates for private label, co-brand, and general-purpose credit card programs, and installment loans and split-pay products; and provides marketing, and data and analytics services. In addition, it offers an enhanced digital suite that includes a unified software development kit, which provides access to its suite of products, as well as promotes credit payment options earlier in the shopping experience. Further, the company through Bread, a digital payments platform and robust suite of application programming interfaces allows merchants and partners to integrate online point-of-sale financing and other digital payment products. It offers its products under the Bread CashbackTM, Bread PayTM, and Bread SavingsTM brands. The company was formerly known as Alliance Data Systems Corporation and changed its name to Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. in March 2022. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
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