East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and California First Leasing (OTCMKTS:CFNB) Head to Head Comparison

California First Leasing (OTCMKTS:CFNB) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.5% of California First Leasing shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 86.2% of California First Leasing shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

California First Leasing has a beta of 0.12, suggesting that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for California First Leasing and East West Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California First Leasing	0	0	0	0	0.00
East West Bancorp	1	4	12	0	2.65

East West Bancorp has a consensus price target of $120.53, indicating a potential upside of 12.18%. Given East West Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than California First Leasing.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares California First Leasing and East West Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California First Leasing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
East West Bancorp	$4.53 billion	3.27	$1.17 billion	$8.56	12.55

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than California First Leasing.

Profitability

This table compares California First Leasing and East West Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California First Leasing	N/A	N/A	N/A
East West Bancorp	26.06%	15.09%	1.56%

Summary

East West Bancorp beats California First Leasing on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About California First Leasing

California First Leasing Corporation provides loans and lease financing for universities, businesses, and other commercial or non-profit organizations. The company was formerly known as California First National Bancorp and changed its name to California First Leasing Corporation in February 2021. California First Leasing Corporation was founded in 1977 and is based in Newport Beach, California.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for East West Bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other. It accepts various deposit products, such as personal and business checking and savings accounts, money market, and time deposits. The company’s loan products include mortgage and home equity, commercial and residential real estate, working capital lines of credit, construction finance, trade finance, letters of credit, commercial business, affordable housing loans, asset-based lending, asset-backed finance, project finance, loan syndication, and equipment financing, as well as financing services for clients to facilitate their business transactions between the United States and Asia. It also provides various wealth management, treasury management, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk hedging services; and mobile and online banking services. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.