Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) vs. FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) Head-To-Head Review

FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) and Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.0% of Provident Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.5% of FirstSun Capital Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Provident Financial Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for FirstSun Capital Bancorp and Provident Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	0	2	3	1	2.83
Provident Financial Services	0	2	4	1	2.86

FirstSun Capital Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $45.25, indicating a potential upside of 15.23%. Provident Financial Services has a consensus price target of $26.79, indicating a potential upside of 18.82%. Given Provident Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Provident Financial Services is more favorable than FirstSun Capital Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	$569.65 million	3.21	$97.94 million	$1.97	19.93
Provident Financial Services	$1.38 billion	2.13	$291.16 million	$2.40	9.39

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

Profitability

This table compares FirstSun Capital Bancorp and Provident Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	6.60%	7.16%	0.92%
Provident Financial Services	22.15%	11.00%	1.24%

Risk & Volatility

FirstSun Capital Bancorp has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Provident Financial Services has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Provident Financial Services beats FirstSun Capital Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FirstSun Capital Bancorp

FirstSun Capital Bancorp engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Mortgage Operations, and Corporate. The Banking segment consists of loans and provides deposits and fee-based services to consumer, business, and mortgage lending customers. The Mortgage Operations segment originates, sells, services, and manages market risk from changes in interest rates on one-to-four family residential mortgage loans to sell and hold. The company is founded on November 9, 1981 headquartered in Denver, CO.

About Provident Financial Services

Provident Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Provident Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market deposit, and certificate of deposit accounts, as well as IRA products. The company's loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans that are secured by properties, such as multi-family apartment buildings, office buildings, retail and industrial properties, and office buildings; commercial business loans; fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage loans collateralized by one- to four-family residential real estate properties; commercial construction loans; and consumer loans consisting of home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, personal loans and unsecured lines of credit, and auto and recreational vehicle loans. It also offers cash management, remote deposit capture, payroll origination, escrow account management, and online and mobile banking services; and business credit cards. In addition, the company provides wealth management services comprising investment management, trust and estate administration, financial planning, and tax compliance and planning. Further, it sells insurance and investment products, including annuities; operates as a real estate investment trust for acquiring mortgage loans and other real estate related assets; and manages and sells real estate properties acquired through foreclosure. The company was founded in 1839 and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.