Contrasting Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) & Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) and Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hope Bancorp and Dime Community Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hope Bancorp	$473.92 million	2.78	$99.63 million	$0.82	13.29
Dime Community Bancshares	$646.19 million	1.85	$29.08 million	$0.59	51.85

Hope Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Dime Community Bancshares. Hope Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dime Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Hope Bancorp has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dime Community Bancshares has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.0% of Hope Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Hope Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.1% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Hope Bancorp and Dime Community Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hope Bancorp	9.95%	4.84%	0.59%
Dime Community Bancshares	4.50%	5.43%	0.46%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Hope Bancorp and Dime Community Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hope Bancorp	0	3	1	0	2.25
Dime Community Bancshares	0	0	4	1	3.20

Hope Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $12.88, indicating a potential upside of 18.12%. Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus price target of $36.40, indicating a potential upside of 18.99%. Given Dime Community Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Dime Community Bancshares is more favorable than Hope Bancorp.

Dividends

Hope Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Dime Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Hope Bancorp pays out 68.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dime Community Bancshares pays out 169.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hope Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Hope Bancorp beats Dime Community Bancshares on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hope Bancorp

Hope Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Hope that provides retail and commercial banking services for businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts personal and business checking, money market, savings, time deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers loans comprising commercial and industrial loans to businesses for various purposes, such as working capital, purchasing inventory, debt refinancing, business acquisitions, international trade finance, other business-related financing, and loans syndication services; commercial real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; small business administration loans; and consumer loans, such as single-family mortgage, home equity, automobile, credit card, and personal loans. In addition, it provides internet banking and bill-pay, remote deposit capture, lock box, and ACH origination services; treasury management services; foreign currency exchange transactions; interest rate contracts and wealth management services; automated teller machine services; and engages in investment activities. Hope Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that engages in the provision of various commercial banking and financial services. The company accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. It also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; letters of credit; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; lines of credit; home equity loans; and construction and land loans. In addition, the company invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Federal National Mortgage Association, Government National Mortgage Association, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other asset backed securities; U.S. Treasury securities; New York state and local municipal obligations; U.S. government-sponsored enterprise securities; and corporate bonds. Further, it offers certificate of deposit account registry services and insured cash sweep programs; federal deposit insurance corporation insurance; merchant credit and debit card processing, automated teller machines, cash management services, lockbox processing, online banking services, remote deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, and individual retirement accounts; investment products and services through a third-party broker dealer; and title insurance broker services for small and medium sized businesses, and municipal and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.