Head to Head Review: First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)

First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Western Financial and Huntington Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Western Financial	$180.33 million	1.24	$8.47 million	$1.19	19.34
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96 billion	2.11	$1.94 billion	$1.35	12.79

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

60.3% of First Western Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.9% of First Western Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for First Western Financial and Huntington Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Western Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67
Huntington Bancshares	1	3	15	2	2.86

First Western Financial presently has a consensus price target of $24.33, indicating a potential upside of 5.71%. Huntington Bancshares has a consensus price target of $19.24, indicating a potential upside of 11.39%. Given Huntington Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Huntington Bancshares is more favorable than First Western Financial.

Volatility and Risk

First Western Financial has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares First Western Financial and Huntington Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Western Financial	6.50%	4.55%	0.39%
Huntington Bancshares	17.36%	11.81%	1.06%

Summary

Huntington Bancshares beats First Western Financial on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Western Financial

First Western Financial, Inc., a financial holding company, provides wealth advisory, private baking, personal trust, investment management, mortgage lending, and institutional asset management services. The company operates through two segments: Wealth Management and Mortgage. The Wealth Management segment provides deposit, loan, life insurance, and trust and investment management advisory products and services. The Mortgage segment engages in soliciting, originating, and selling mortgage loans into the secondary market. It serves entrepreneurs, professionals, high net worth individuals or families, and business and philanthropic organizations. First Western Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.