Head to Head Contrast: WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) & First of Long Island (NASDAQ:FLIC)

First of Long Island (NASDAQ:FLIC) and WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

48.3% of First of Long Island shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.5% of WSFS Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of First of Long Island shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of WSFS Financial shares are owned by company 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.

Risk and Volatility

First of Long Island has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WSFS Financial has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for First of Long Island and WSFS Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First of Long Island	0	0	0	0	N/A
WSFS Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67

WSFS Financial has a consensus target price of $43.67, suggesting a potential downside of 5.65%. Given WSFS Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe WSFS Financial is more favorable than First of Long Island.

Profitability

This table compares First of Long Island and WSFS Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First of Long Island	14.14%	6.59%	0.57%
WSFS Financial	20.73%	11.94%	1.39%

Dividends

First of Long Island pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.2%. WSFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. First of Long Island pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. WSFS Financial pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First of Long Island and WSFS Financial’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First of Long Island	$161.82 million	1.42	$26.24 million	$1.08	9.46
WSFS Financial	$1.27 billion	2.20	$269.16 million	$4.48	10.33

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

Summary

WSFS Financial beats First of Long Island on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First of Long Island

The First of Long Island Corporation operates as the holding company for The First National Bank of Long Island that provides financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, consumers, municipalities, and other organizations. The company offers business and small business checking, personal checking, negotiable order of withdrawal, interest on lawyer, escrow service, rent security, personal and nonpersonal money market, savings, time deposit, and individual retirement accounts. It also provides commercial and residential mortgage, commercial and industrial, small business credit scored, Small Business Administration, construction and land development, consumer, and home equity lines/loans, as well as standby letters of credit; debit or credit cards; and overdraft facilities. In addition, the company offers life insurance, investment management, trust, estate and custody, retail investment, bill payment, lockbox, ACH, safe deposit box rental, wire transfer, money order, checkbook printing, check, ATM, and online and mobile banking services. The First of Long Island Corporation was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

About WSFS Financial

WSFS Financial Corporation operates as the savings and loan holding company for the Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB that provides various banking services in the United States. It operates through three segments: WSFS Bank, Cash Connect, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand deposits, interest-bearing demand deposits, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as accepts jumbo certificates of deposit from individuals, businesses, and municipalities. The company also provides a range of loans, which comprise fixed and adjustable rate residential loans; commercial mortgage and commercial loans; commercial construction loans; commercial loans for working capital, financing equipment and real estate acquisitions, business expansion and other business purposes; and consumer credit products, such as home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, automobile loans, unsecured lines of credit, and other secured and unsecured personal installment loans. In addition, it offers insurance products; planning and advisory services, investment management, trust services, and credit and deposit products to individual, corporate and institutional clients; retail securities and insurance brokerage services; mortgage and title services; residential mortgage and refinancing solutions; and leases small equipment and fixed assets, as well as provides financial planning, customized investment strategies, brokerage products, fiduciary, and wealth management services. Further, the company provides ATM vault cash, smart safe, and other cash logistics services; and online reporting and ATM cash management, predictive cash ordering and reconcilement services, armored carrier management, loss protection, and deposit safe cash logistics services, as well as trustee, agency, bankruptcy administration, custodial and commercial domicile services. The company was founded in 1832 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.