Analyzing CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB)

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.2% of CVB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of CVB Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

CVB Financial has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Northwest Bancorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for CVB Financial and First Northwest Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CVB Financial	0	1	3	0	2.75
First Northwest Bancorp	1	2	1	0	2.00

CVB Financial presently has a consensus price target of $24.50, suggesting a potential upside of 15.40%. First Northwest Bancorp has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 26.64%. Given First Northwest Bancorp’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Northwest Bancorp is more favorable than CVB Financial.

Dividends

CVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. First Northwest Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. CVB Financial pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Northwest Bancorp pays out 50.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Profitability

This table compares CVB Financial and First Northwest Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CVB Financial	32.05%	9.16%	1.34%
First Northwest Bancorp	4.20%	3.14%	0.23%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CVB Financial and First Northwest Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CVB Financial	$648.47 million	5.78	$209.30 million	$1.52	13.97
First Northwest Bancorp	$67.76 million	1.49	-$4.19 million	$0.55	19.38

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

Summary

CVB Financial beats First Northwest Bancorp on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers. The company also provides commercial lending products comprising lines of credit and other working capital financing, accounts receivable lending, and letters of credit; agriculture loans to finance the operating needs of wholesale dairy farm operations, cattle feeders, livestock raisers, and farmers; lease financing services for municipal governments; commercial real estate and construction loans; and consumer financing products, including automobile leasing and financing, lines of credit, credit cards, home mortgages, and home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it offers various specialized services, such as treasury management systems for monitoring cash flow, merchant card processing program, armored pick-up and delivery, payroll services, remote deposit capture, electronic funds transfers, wires and automated clearinghouse, and online account access. Further, the company provides trust services, such as fiduciary services, mutual funds, annuities, 401(k) plans, and individual investment accounts. CVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ontario, California.

About First Northwest Bancorp

First Northwest Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for First Fed Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in western Washington, the United States. The company accepts various deposit instruments, including checking, money market deposit, savings, and transaction accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also originates one- to four-family mortgage loans, commercial and multi-family real estate loans, construction and land loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans primarily consisting of automobile loans, and home-equity loans and lines of credit. First Northwest Bancorp operates branch offices in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, Washington. First Northwest Bancorp was founded in 1923 and is based in Port Angeles, Washington.