Head to Head Contrast: Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) vs. Central Plains Bancshares (NASDAQ:CPBI)

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.3% of Central Plains Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of Central Plains Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Wintrust Financial and Central Plains Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wintrust Financial	$2.65 billion	3.24	$695.04 million	$10.88	11.79
Central Plains Bancshares	$27.31 million	2.47	$3.65 million	$0.97	16.52

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Wintrust Financial and Central Plains Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wintrust Financial	0	2	11	1	2.93
Central Plains Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00

Wintrust Financial currently has a consensus price target of $152.92, indicating a potential upside of 19.19%. Given Wintrust Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Wintrust Financial is more favorable than Central Plains Bancshares.

Volatility and Risk

Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Central Plains Bancshares has a beta of 0.14, suggesting that its share price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Wintrust Financial and Central Plains Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wintrust Financial	18.85%	13.05%	1.21%
Central Plains Bancshares	12.78%	4.35%	0.72%

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats Central Plains Bancshares on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Central Plains Bancshares

Central Plains Bancshares, Inc. focuses on providing various banking products and services to retail customers, and small and medium-sized commercial customers in Nebraska, the United States. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, and certificate of deposit accounts. The company also provides one- to four-family residential mortgage loans secured by properties, as well as commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial loans, multi-family residential real estate loans, construction and land development loans, agricultural real estate and non-real estate loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it offers electronic banking services, including mobile banking, on-line banking and bill pay, and electronic funds transfer. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is based in Grand Island, Nebraska.