Reviewing Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) & Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK)

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) and Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Euronet Worldwide and Columbia Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Euronet Worldwide	$4.34 billion	0.62	$309.50 million	$6.93	10.16
Columbia Financial	$508.02 million	4.28	$51.77 million	$0.55	38.00

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Euronet Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.7% of Columbia Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.2% of Euronet Worldwide shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Columbia Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Euronet Worldwide and Columbia Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Euronet Worldwide	2	2	3	0	2.14
Columbia Financial	0	3	0	0	2.00

Euronet Worldwide currently has a consensus price target of $95.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.89%. Columbia Financial has a consensus price target of $18.50, indicating a potential downside of 11.48%. Given Euronet Worldwide’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Euronet Worldwide is more favorable than Columbia Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Euronet Worldwide and Columbia Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Euronet Worldwide	7.15%	28.37%	5.74%
Columbia Financial	10.91%	5.12%	0.54%

Risk & Volatility

Euronet Worldwide has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Financial has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Euronet Worldwide beats Columbia Financial on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Euronet Worldwide

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. provides payment and transaction processing and distribution solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers worldwide. It operates through three segments: Electronic Fund Transfer Processing, epay, and Money Transfer. The Electronic Fund Transfer Processing segment provides electronic payment solutions, including automated teller machine (ATM) cash withdrawal and deposit services, ATM network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale (POS) management solutions, credit and debit and prepaid card outsourcing, card issuing, and merchant acquiring services. It also offers ATM and POS currency conversion, ATM surcharge, advertising, customer relationship management, mobile top-up, bill payment, fraud management, foreign remittance and cardless payout, banknote recycling, and tax-refund services; and integrated electronic financial transaction software solutions for electronic payment and transaction delivery systems. The epay segment distributes and processes prepaid mobile airtime and other electronic payment products; and provides payment processing services for various prepaid products, cards, and services, as well as vouchers and physical gift fulfillment, and gift card distribution and processing services. This segment operates a network of approximately 821,000 POS terminals. The Money Transfer segment offers consumer-to-consumer and account-to-account money transfer, customers bill payment, check cashing, foreign currency exchange, mobile top-up, and cash management and foreign currency risk management services, as well as payment alternatives, such as money orders and prepaid debit cards. The company was formerly known as Euronet Services, Inc. and changed its name to Euronet Worldwide, Inc. in August 2001. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc., a bank holding company, provides various financial services to businesses and consumers in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, interest-earning checking products and municipal, savings and club deposits, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides various loans, including multifamily and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, one-to-four family residential loans, construction loans, home equity loans and advances, and other consumer loans, such as automobiles and personal loans, as well as unsecured and overdraft lines of credit. In addition, it offers title insurance products; wealth management services; and cash management services comprising remote deposit, lockbox service, sweep accounts, and escrow services. The company operates full-service banking offices in New Jersey; and branch offices in Freehold, New Jersey. Columbia Financial, Inc. was founded in 1926 and is based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Columbia Financial, Inc. is a subsidiary of Columbia Bank MHC.