Reviewing Flagstar Financial (NYSE:FLG) & Provident Bancorp (NASDAQ:PVBC)

Flagstar Financial (NYSE:FLG) and Provident Bancorp (NASDAQ:PVBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Flagstar Financial and Provident Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flagstar Financial	0	3	0	0	2.00
Provident Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Flagstar Financial presently has a consensus price target of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 22.21%. Provident Bancorp has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.40%. Given Flagstar Financial’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Flagstar Financial is more favorable than Provident Bancorp.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flagstar Financial	-18.40%	-11.35%	-0.78%
Provident Bancorp	5.53%	2.36%	0.32%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Flagstar Financial and Provident Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flagstar Financial	$8.20 billion	0.48	-$79.00 million	($4.36)	-2.16
Provident Bancorp	$97.36 million	1.98	$10.95 million	$0.32	33.97

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.9% of Flagstar Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.6% of Provident Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of Flagstar Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Provident Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Flagstar Financial has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Provident Bancorp has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Provident Bancorp beats Flagstar Financial on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flagstar Financial

Flagstar Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Flagstar Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services in the United States. The company’s deposit products include interest-bearing checking and money market, savings, non-interest-bearing, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan products comprise multi-family loans; commercial real estate loans; acquisition, development, and construction loans; commercial and industrial loans; one-to-four family loans; specialty finance loans and leases; warehouse loans; and other loans, such as home equity lines of credit, boat and recreational vehicle indirect lending, point of sale consumer loans, and other consumer loans, including overdraft loans. The company offers cash management products; non-deposit investment and insurance products; and online banking, mobile banking, and bank-by-phone services. It primarily serves individuals, small and mid-size businesses, and professional associations. The company was formerly known as New York Community Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to Flagstar Financial, Inc. in October 2024. Flagstar Financial, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Hicksville, New York.

About Provident Bancorp

Provident Bancorp, Inc. is a Maryland corporation that was formed in 2019 to be the successor corporation to Provident Bancorp, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, and the holding company for The Provident Bank. The Provident Bank, a subsidiary of Provident Bancorp, Inc. is an innovative, commercial bank that finds solutions for its business and private clients.