Reviewing Harleysville Savings Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) & Flagstar Bank, National Association (NYSE:FLG)

Flagstar Bank, National Association (NYSE:FLG) and Harleysville Savings Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Flagstar Bank, National Association and Harleysville Savings Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flagstar Bank, National Association	-7.06%	-3.80%	-0.30%
Harleysville Savings Financial	21.91%	10.81%	1.09%

Volatility and Risk

Flagstar Bank, National Association has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harleysville Savings Financial has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Flagstar Bank, National Association and Harleysville Savings Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flagstar Bank, National Association	$6.35 billion	0.83	-$1.12 billion	($0.97)	-13.08
Harleysville Savings Financial	$43.61 million	2.06	$9.53 million	$2.61	9.58

Harleysville Savings Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Flagstar Bank, National Association. Flagstar Bank, National Association is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Harleysville Savings Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Flagstar Bank, National Association pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Harleysville Savings Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Flagstar Bank, National Association pays out -4.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Harleysville Savings Financial pays out 50.6% 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.9% of Flagstar Bank, National Association shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of Harleysville Savings Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Flagstar Bank, National Association shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of Harleysville Savings Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Flagstar Bank, National Association and Harleysville Savings Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flagstar Bank, National Association	2	6	5	0	2.23
Harleysville Savings Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00

Flagstar Bank, National Association presently has a consensus target price of $13.88, suggesting a potential upside of 9.38%. Given Flagstar Bank, National Association’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Flagstar Bank, National Association is more favorable than Harleysville Savings Financial.

Summary

Harleysville Savings Financial beats Flagstar Bank, National Association on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flagstar Bank, National Association

Flagstar Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Flagstar Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services in the United States. The company’s deposit products include interest-bearing checking and money market, savings, non-interest-bearing, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan products comprise multi-family loans; commercial real estate loans; acquisition, development, and construction loans; commercial and industrial loans; one-to-four family loans; specialty finance loans and leases; warehouse loans; and other loans, such as home equity lines of credit, boat and recreational vehicle indirect lending, point of sale consumer loans, and other consumer loans, including overdraft loans. The company offers cash management products; non-deposit investment and insurance products; and online banking, mobile banking, and bank-by-phone services. It primarily serves individuals, small and mid-size businesses, and professional associations. The company was formerly known as New York Community Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to Flagstar Financial, Inc. in October 2024. Flagstar Financial, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Hicksville, New York.

About Harleysville Savings Financial

Harleysville Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Harleysville Bank that provides various banking products and services in Pennsylvania. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, money market, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. It also provides consumer loans, including residential mortgages, savings account loans, and home equity line of credit, construction, and non-real estate consumer loans; and commercial loans, such as commercial mortgages, line of credit, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers online banking and bill payment, mobile and telephone banking, remote deposit, debit cards, automated clearing house processing, sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, employee services, and other cash management services. Further, it provides investment services, such as financial consultation, cash and wealth management, education planning, investment strategy, insurance, retirement and estate planning, financial and goal planning, and asset allocation services, as well as offers investment products, such as fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, life insurances, stocks and bonds, tax-advantaged investments, long-term care insurances, disability insurances, retirement plans/individual retirement accounts, wrap accounts, and unit investment trusts. Its primary market area includes Montgomery County and Bucks County. The company was formerly known as Harleysville Savings Financial Corporation and changed its name to Harleysville Financial Corporation in May 2017. Harleysville Financial Corporation was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.