Comparing Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) and Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA)

Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Dividends

Chester Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.3%. Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Wintrust Financial pays out 18.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Chester Bancorp and Wintrust Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wintrust Financial	18.85%	12.82%	1.20%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Chester Bancorp and Wintrust Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wintrust Financial	$2.65 billion	3.47	$695.04 million	$10.88	12.64

Wintrust Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Chester Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 38.8% of Chester Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Chester Bancorp has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Chester Bancorp and Wintrust Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chester Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Wintrust Financial	0	2	11	1	2.93

Wintrust Financial has a consensus price target of $152.92, suggesting a potential upside of 11.20%. Given Wintrust Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Wintrust Financial is more favorable than Chester Bancorp.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats Chester Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chester Bancorp

Chester Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Chester National Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Chester, Illinois. It offers checking accounts, such as regular checking, student checking, golden checking, and club checking accounts; savings accounts, including statement savings, Christmas club, and money market accounts; and certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans comprising mortgage, construction, lot, home equity, consumer, and business loans; and reorder check services. It operates two full service offices in Sparta, Illinois; and Perryville, Missouri. Chester Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Chester, Illinois.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company. It operates in three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, and other services. It also engages in the retail origination and purchase of residential mortgages; and provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations, as well as asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, this segment offers loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. It provides personal and commercial banking services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional clients. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services; other specialty finance services; equipment financing through structured loan and lease products; and property and casualty premium financing; as well as data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management services, such as trust and investment, asset management, tax-deferred exchange, securities brokerage, and retirement plan services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.