Contrasting Suruga Bank (OTCMKTS:SUGBY) & WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Suruga Bank (OTCMKTS:SUGBY) and WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Suruga Bank and WSFS Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Suruga Bank	$730.15 million	1.89	$230.70 million	$13.12	6.10
WSFS Financial	$1.36 billion	2.69	$287.35 million	$5.62	12.52

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

Risk & Volatility

Suruga Bank has a beta of -0.04, suggesting that its share price is 104% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WSFS Financial has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Suruga Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. WSFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Suruga Bank pays out 8.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WSFS Financial pays out 14.2% 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. WSFS Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Suruga Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Suruga Bank and WSFS Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Suruga Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
WSFS Financial	0	4	4	0	2.50

WSFS Financial has a consensus target price of $77.07, suggesting a potential upside of 9.56%. Given WSFS Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WSFS Financial is more favorable than Suruga Bank.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.5% of WSFS Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of WSFS Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Suruga Bank and WSFS Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Suruga Bank	33.98%	11.31%	0.99%
WSFS Financial	22.55%	11.23%	1.43%

Summary

WSFS Financial beats Suruga Bank on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Suruga Bank

Suruga Bank Ltd. provides various banking and financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Japan. The company offers deposit products, such as time, ordinary, savings, foreign currency, and other deposits, as well as current and general accounts; card, housing, second house, startup, and business up term loans, as well as loans by purpose; credit and debit cards; overdrafts; and other financing products. It also provides investment trust, public bond, pension contribution, insurance, inheritance/trust, lottery, foreign currency, pay-easy, web direct, safe deposit box, external linkage, foreign remittance, fund management, e-combination, payment, nursing care/medical care/dispensing compensation receivable factoring, mortgage, and Internet and telephone banking services. In addition, the company offers staffing, money lending, guarantee, printing, leasing, and agency services. The company was incorporated in 1895 and is headquartered in Numazu, Japan.

About WSFS Financial

WSFS Financial Corporation operates as the savings and loan holding company for the Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB that provides various banking services in the United States. It operates through three segments: WSFS Bank, Cash Connect, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand deposits, interest-bearing demand deposits, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as accepts jumbo certificates of deposit from individuals, businesses, and municipalities. The company also provides a range of loans, which comprise fixed and adjustable rate residential loans; commercial mortgage and commercial loans; commercial construction loans; commercial loans for working capital, financing equipment and real estate acquisitions, business expansion and other business purposes; and consumer credit products, such as home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, automobile loans, unsecured lines of credit, and other secured and unsecured personal installment loans. In addition, it offers insurance products; planning and advisory services, investment management, trust services, and credit and deposit products to individual, corporate and institutional clients; retail securities and insurance brokerage services; mortgage and title services; residential mortgage and refinancing solutions; and leases small equipment and fixed assets, as well as provides financial planning, customized investment strategies, brokerage products, fiduciary, and wealth management services. Further, the company provides ATM vault cash, smart safe, and other cash logistics services; and online reporting and ATM cash management, predictive cash ordering and reconcilement services, armored carrier management, loss protection, and deposit safe cash logistics services, as well as trustee, agency, bankruptcy administration, custodial and commercial domicile services. The company was founded in 1832 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.