Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC – Get Free Report) and Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Community West Bancshares and Houlihan Lokey”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Community West Bancshares | $196.20 million | 3.74 | $38.17 million | $2.16 | 12.54 |
| Houlihan Lokey | $2.62 billion | 3.69 | $425.70 million | $6.22 | 22.47 |
Profitability
This table compares Community West Bancshares and Houlihan Lokey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Community West Bancshares | 20.77% | 10.44% | 1.15% |
| Houlihan Lokey | 16.26% | 22.88% | 13.33% |
Volatility and Risk
Community West Bancshares has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Houlihan Lokey has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent recommendations for Community West Bancshares and Houlihan Lokey, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Community West Bancshares | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2.60 |
| Houlihan Lokey | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2.50 |
Community West Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $28.17, suggesting a potential upside of 4.01%. Houlihan Lokey has a consensus target price of $180.50, suggesting a potential upside of 29.13%. Given Houlihan Lokey’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Houlihan Lokey is more favorable than Community West Bancshares.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
33.8% of Community West Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.1% of Houlihan Lokey shares are held by institutional investors. 9.0% of Community West Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.8% of Houlihan Lokey shares are held 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.
Dividends
Community West Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Houlihan Lokey pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Community West Bancshares pays out 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Houlihan Lokey pays out 45.0% 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. Houlihan Lokey has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Houlihan Lokey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Houlihan Lokey beats Community West Bancshares on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Community West Bancshares
Community West Bancshares operates as the bank holding company for Community West Bank, N.A. that provides various financial products and services in California. The company offers deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and fixed rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposits; and cash management products. It also provides commercial, commercial real estate, consumer, manufactured housing, and small business administration loans, as well as agricultural loans for real estate and operating lines; home equity lines of credit collateralized by residential real estate; single family real estate loans; and installment loans consisting of automobile and general-purpose loans. The company serves small to medium-sized businesses and their owners, professionals, high-net worth individuals, and non-profit organizations. Community West Bancshares was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Goleta, California.
About Houlihan Lokey
Houlihan Lokey, Inc., an investment banking company, provides merger and acquisition (M&A), capital market, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Corporate Finance, Financial Restructuring, and Financial and Valuation Advisory. The Corporate Finance segment offers general financial advisory services; and advises public and private institutions on buy-side and sell-side transactions, leveraged loans, private mezzanine debt, high-yield debt, initial public offerings, follow-ons, convertibles, equity private placements, private equity, and liability management transactions, as well as advise financial sponsors on various transactions. The Financial Restructuring segment advises debtors, creditors, and other parties-in-interest related to recapitalization/deleveraging transactions. It also provides a range of advisory services, including structuring, negotiation, and confirmation of plans of reorganization; structuring and analysis of exchange offers; corporate viability assessment; dispute resolution and expert testimony; and procuring debtor-in-possession financing. The Financial and Valuation Advisory segment offers valuations of various assets, such as companies, illiquid debt and equity securities, and intellectual property. It also provides fairness opinions in connection with M&A and other transactions, solvency opinions in connection with corporate spin-offs and dividend recapitalizations, and other types of financial opinions. In addition, this segment offers dispute resolution services. It serves corporations, financial sponsors, and government agencies. The company was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Receive News & Ratings for Community West Bancshares Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Community West Bancshares and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
