Head to Head Survey: OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) and Bank Hapoalim (OTCMKTS:BKHYY)

Bank Hapoalim (OTCMKTS:BKHYY) and OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bank Hapoalim and OceanFirst Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank Hapoalim	$12.56 billion	2.68	$2.84 billion	$11.32	11.38
OceanFirst Financial	$687.16 million	2.40	$70.98 million	$0.85	20.12

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

71.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of OceanFirst Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Bank Hapoalim and OceanFirst Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank Hapoalim	0	1	0	1	3.00
OceanFirst Financial	0	5	1	0	2.17

OceanFirst Financial has a consensus price target of $21.50, suggesting a potential upside of 25.73%. Given OceanFirst Financial’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe OceanFirst Financial is more favorable than Bank Hapoalim.

Dividends

Bank Hapoalim pays an annual dividend of $3.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. OceanFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Bank Hapoalim pays out 33.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OceanFirst Financial pays out 94.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank Hapoalim	22.88%	14.08%	1.17%
OceanFirst Financial	6.38%	5.34%	0.59%

Risk and Volatility

Bank Hapoalim has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OceanFirst Financial has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bank Hapoalim beats OceanFirst Financial on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank Hapoalim

Bank Hapoalim B.M., together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services in Israel and internationally. It operates through Household, Private Banking, Small businesses and micro businesses, Mid-sized businesses, Large businesses, Institutional entities, and Financial management segments. The company offers account-management services, lending for various purposes, deposits, and savings plans, and capital-market service; housing loans; research and advisory services; and pension advisory and retirement planning services. It also provides products and services for the expansion of a business, advanced digital services, and a service center specializing in businesses; credit for routine operations and investment financing, guarantees, letters of credit, foreign trade, and transactions in financial and derivative instruments, as well as investment services in various channels, such as foreign currency, shekels, and securities. In addition, the company offers financial services, including foreign-trade financing, financing of working capital, financing of assets overseas, complex financing transactions, syndication, and credit-risk transfers; and financing of construction projects, granting credit to customers, and issuing guarantees to buyers of homes. Further, it provides managers of mutual funds, managers of investment portfolios, and managers of provident funds, study funds, and pension funds; trading activities; underwriting services; and brokerage and custody services. The company serves households, private-banking customers, foreign residents, small businesses, financial-asset managers, middle-market business clients, and large corporations. Bank Hapoalim B.M. was founded in 1921 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A. that provides community banking services to retail and commercial customers. It accepts money market accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, non-interest-bearing accounts, and time deposits, that includes brokered deposits to retail, government, and business customers. The company also offers commercial real estate, multi-family, land loans, construction, and commercial and industrial loans; fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage loans that are secured by one-to-four family residences; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans and lines of credit, student loans, overdraft line of credit, loans on savings accounts, and other consumer loans. In addition, it invests in mortgage-backed securities, securities issued by the U.S. Government and agencies, corporate securities, and other investments. Further, the company offers bankcard, trust and asset management services; and bank owned life insurance products. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in Red Bank, New Jersey.