WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) & East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Head to Head Comparison

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) 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.

Dividends

East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. WaFd pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. East West Bancorp pays out 26.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WaFd pays out 40.9% 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. East West Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years and WaFd has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares East West Bancorp and WaFd’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
East West Bancorp	27.16%	15.55%	1.63%
WaFd	16.02%	8.40%	0.84%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.7% of WaFd shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of WaFd 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.

Volatility and Risk

East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WaFd has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for East West Bancorp and WaFd, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
East West Bancorp	1	4	11	1	2.71
WaFd	0	5	0	0	2.00

East West Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $124.08, suggesting a potential upside of 12.46%. WaFd has a consensus target price of $32.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.44%. Given East West Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than WaFd.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares East West Bancorp and WaFd”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
East West Bancorp	$2.81 billion	5.40	$1.17 billion	$9.07	12.16
WaFd	$1.41 billion	1.75	$226.07 million	$2.64	12.17

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than WaFd. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WaFd, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

East West Bancorp beats WaFd on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for East West Bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other. It accepts various deposit products, such as personal and business checking and savings accounts, money market, and time deposits. The company’s loan products include mortgage and home equity, commercial and residential real estate, working capital lines of credit, construction finance, trade finance, letters of credit, commercial business, affordable housing loans, asset-based lending, asset-backed finance, project finance, loan syndication, and equipment financing, as well as financing services for clients to facilitate their business transactions between the United States and Asia. It also provides various wealth management, treasury management, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk hedging services; and mobile and online banking services. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.

About WaFd

WaFd, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Washington Federal Bank that provides lending, depository, insurance, and other banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business and personal checking accounts, and term certificates of deposit, as well as money market accounts and passbook savings accounts. It also provides single-family dwellings, construction, land acquisition and development, consumer lot, multi-family residential, commercial real estate, home equity, business, and consumer loans, as well as commercial and industrial loans. In addition, the company offers insurance brokerage services, such as individual and business insurance policies; holds and markets real estate properties; and debit and credit cards, as well as acts as the trustee. It serves consumers, mid-sized and large businesses, and owners and developers of commercial real estate. The company was formerly known as Washington Federal, Inc. and changed its name to WaFd, Inc in September 2023. WaFd, Inc was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.