Financial Survey: Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) & Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) and Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blue Foundry Bancorp has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Peoples Bancorp and Blue Foundry Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp	0	2	3	1	2.83
Blue Foundry Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00

Peoples Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $42.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.20%. Given Peoples Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Peoples Bancorp is more favorable than Blue Foundry Bancorp.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Peoples Bancorp and Blue Foundry Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peoples Bancorp	$618.38 million	2.24	$106.78 million	$3.39	11.35
Blue Foundry Bancorp	$49.07 million	5.60	-$11.91 million	($0.46)	-28.78

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Peoples Bancorp and Blue Foundry Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp	19.76%	11.08%	1.41%
Blue Foundry Bancorp	-9.82%	-2.84%	-0.44%

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats Blue Foundry Bancorp on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Its principal subsidiary, Peoples Bank, provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses and local organizations. The company offers deposit accounts, loans, payment services and other banking products, along with services such as wealth management, insurance and equipment financing. Its branches and service areas extend across Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. Peoples traces its history to 1902, when it was established in Marietta.

About Blue Foundry Bancorp

Blue Foundry Bancorp is the bank holding company for Blue Foundry Bank, a community bank headquartered in Rutherford, New Jersey. The bank traces its roots to Boiling Springs Savings Bank, founded in 1939, and adopted the Blue Foundry name in 2020. Blue Foundry Bank serves individuals, families and businesses primarily in northern New Jersey. Its services include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, home equity loans, commercial real estate and business lending, and online and mobile banking.