Head to Head Comparison: Northway Financial (OTCMKTS:NWYF) & Friendly Hills Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FHLB)

Friendly Hills Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FHLB) and Northway Financial (OTCMKTS:NWYF) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Friendly Hills Bancorp and Northway Financial’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Friendly Hills Bancorp	$11.04 million	2.27	-$990,000.00	($0.22)	-27.27
Northway Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.53	34.22

Northway Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Friendly Hills Bancorp. Friendly Hills Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northway Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

2.1% of Northway Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Northway Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Friendly Hills Bancorp and Northway Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Friendly Hills Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Northway Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A

Profitability

This table compares Friendly Hills Bancorp and Northway Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Friendly Hills Bancorp	-4.06%	-2.05%	-0.18%
Northway Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Northway Financial beats Friendly Hills Bancorp on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Friendly Hills Bancorp

Friendly Hills Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for First Pacific Bank that provides various financial and banking products and services. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, NOW, sweep, and individual retirement accounts, as well as term certificates of deposit. The company also provides loan products, such as real estate construction, 1-4 family, commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, consumer, business expansion, small business administration, automobile, and personal loans, as well as machinery, technology solutions, commercial vehicle, and equipment financing; working capital and lines of credit; letters of credit; home equity lines of credit; truck financing solutions for independent owner operators and small fleet owners; business credit cards; and overdraft services. In addition, it offers business, cash and treasury management, insured cash sweep, remote deposit capture, automated clearing house, courier, wire transfer, Positive Pay, specialty, and online and mobile banking services; automated teller machines; and debit and credit cards. The company serves small and middle-market businesses, and individuals located primarily in the Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino County areas of California. It operates through full-service branches located in Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Orange, Redlands, and San Diego, California. Friendly Hills Bancorp was founded in 2006 and is based in Whittier, California.

About Northway Financial

Northway Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Northway Bank, provides various financial products and services in New Hampshire. The company offers checking, savings, money market, individual retirement, and municipal deposit accounts; certificates of deposit (CD); and debit and credit cards. It also provides mortgages; home equity loans; automobile, ATV, boat, and recreational vehicle loans; personal loans and lines of credit; savings or CD secured loans; municipal loan products; and working capital lines of credit, equipment financing and term loans, business acquisition financing, residential and commercial real estate loans, construction loans, consumer loans, and small business administration loans, as well as letters of credit. In addition, the company offers online and mobile banking services; bill pay and payment services; estatements; cash management services comprising account analysis and reconciliation, automated sweep, automated clearing house, deposit express, lockbox, online wire transfer, and CD imaging; fraud and overdraft prevention and protection services; and investment and insurance products. The company was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in North Conway, New Hampshire.