Head to Head Survey: Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) and Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blue Foundry Bancorp	-9.82%	-2.84%	-0.44%
Valley National Bancorp	17.11%	7.92%	0.92%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.5% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of Valley National Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Valley National Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Blue Foundry Bancorp has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valley National Bancorp has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Blue Foundry Bancorp and Valley National Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blue Foundry Bancorp	$87.25 million	3.08	-$11.91 million	($0.46)	-28.11
Valley National Bancorp	$3.49 billion	1.92	$597.98 million	$1.01	11.95

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Blue Foundry Bancorp and Valley National Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blue Foundry Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
Valley National Bancorp	0	3	12	2	2.94

Valley National Bancorp has a consensus target price of $14.40, indicating a potential upside of 19.30%. Given Valley National Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Valley National Bancorp is more favorable than Blue Foundry Bancorp.

Summary

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

About Blue Foundry Bancorp

Blue Foundry Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for Blue Foundry Bank, a savings bank that offers various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers saving, time, and non-interest bearing deposits; demand accounts; and loans, such as one-to-four family residential property, multi-family, residential real estate, non-residential real estate, consumer, construction, and commercial and industrial loans, as well as junior liens and home equity lines of credit. The company was formerly known as Boiling Springs Bancorp and changed its name to Blue Foundry Bancorp in July 2019. Blue Foundry Bancorp was founded in 1939 and is based in Rutherford, New Jersey.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, private banking, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Corporate other segments. The company offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; automobile financing; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans. It also invests in various securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks; and provides international banking services, such as standby and documentary letters of credit, and related products, as well as foreign exchange transactions, documentary collections, and foreign wire transfers services. In addition, the company offers investment services for individuals and small to medium sized businesses; and trusts investment strategies designed for various investment profiles and objectives. Further, it provides trust services, such as living and testamentary trusts, investment management, custodial and escrow services, and estate administration to individuals; tax credit advisory services; brokerage services; property and casualty, life, health, and title insurance agency services; and health care equipment lending and other commercial equipment leasing services, as well as owns real estate related investments. Additionally, the company offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services; receivable, payment, and security solution, merchant, payroll processing, and liquidity services; credit cards; and drive-in and night deposit, automated teller machine, remote deposit capture, and safe deposit facility services. Valley National Bancorp was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey.