Head-To-Head Survey: Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) versus Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH)

Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH) and Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Pathward Financial and Blue Foundry Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pathward Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67
Blue Foundry Bancorp	1	1	0	0	1.50

Pathward Financial presently has a consensus target price of $91.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.61%. Blue Foundry Bancorp has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential downside of 21.01%. Given Pathward Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Pathward Financial is more favorable than Blue Foundry Bancorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Pathward Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Pathward Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Pathward Financial has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blue Foundry Bancorp has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Pathward Financial and Blue Foundry Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pathward Financial	22.45%	22.97%	2.57%
Blue Foundry Bancorp	-9.82%	-2.84%	-0.44%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Pathward Financial and Blue Foundry Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pathward Financial	$851.49 million	1.92	$185.87 million	$7.90	9.24
Blue Foundry Bancorp	$87.25 million	3.01	-$11.91 million	($0.46)	-27.52

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

Summary

Pathward Financial beats Blue Foundry Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pathward Financial

Pathward Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Pathward, National Association that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Corporate Services/Other. It offers demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, and money market savings accounts. The company also provides commercial finance product comprising term lending, asset-based lending, factoring, lease financing, insurance premium finance, government guaranteed lending, and other commercial finance products; consumer credit products; other consumer financing services; tax services, which includes short-term refund advance loans and short-term electronic return originator advance loans; and warehouse financing services. In addition, it issues prepaid cards; and offers payment solutions, such as acceptance, processing, and settlement of credit card and debit card payments. The company was formerly known as Meta Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Pathward Financial, Inc. in July 2022. Pathward Financial, Inc. was founded in 1954 and is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

About Blue Foundry Bancorp

Blue Foundry Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for Blue Foundry Bank, a savings bank that offers various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers saving, time, and non-interest bearing deposits; demand accounts; and loans, such as one-to-four family residential property, multi-family, residential real estate, non-residential real estate, consumer, construction, and commercial and industrial loans, as well as junior liens and home equity lines of credit. The company was formerly known as Boiling Springs Bancorp and changed its name to Blue Foundry Bancorp in July 2019. Blue Foundry Bancorp was founded in 1939 and is based in Rutherford, New Jersey.