Reviewing WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC)

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Risk and Volatility

WaFd has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WaFd	18.25%	8.94%	0.90%
Plumas Bancorp	26.67%	15.16%	1.76%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.7% of WaFd shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of WaFd shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

WaFd pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Plumas Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. WaFd pays out 35.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Plumas Bancorp pays out 28.0% 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. WaFd has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Plumas Bancorp has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. WaFd is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for WaFd and Plumas Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WaFd	0	5	1	0	2.17
Plumas Bancorp	0	0	4	0	3.00

WaFd presently has a consensus target price of $34.80, indicating a potential downside of 7.79%. Plumas Bancorp has a consensus target price of $57.67, indicating a potential upside of 0.10%. Given Plumas Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Plumas Bancorp is more favorable than WaFd.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares WaFd and Plumas Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WaFd	$762.89 million	3.66	$226.07 million	$3.06	12.33
Plumas Bancorp	$112.17 million	3.58	$29.62 million	$4.72	12.21

WaFd has higher revenue and earnings than Plumas Bancorp. Plumas 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

Plumas Bancorp beats WaFd on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Plumas Bancorp

Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.