Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP) Critical Contrast

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

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Blue Foundry Bancorp and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blue Foundry Bancorp	$49.07 million	5.60	-$11.91 million	($0.46)	-28.78
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	$518.35 million	2.20	$90.76 million	$3.33	12.29

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

Risk & Volatility

Blue Foundry Bancorp has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.5% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Blue Foundry Bancorp and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania’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%
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	18.25%	10.19%	1.15%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Blue Foundry Bancorp and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blue Foundry Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	0	3	1	0	2.25

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a consensus target price of $37.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.60%. Given Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania is more favorable than Blue Foundry Bancorp.

Summary

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania beats Blue Foundry Bancorp on 12 of the 14 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 Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co. that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations. Its Wealth Management segment provides investment advisory, financial planning, and trust and brokerage services for private families and individuals, municipal pension plans, retirement plans, and trusts and guardianships. The Insurance segment offers commercial property and casualty insurance, employee benefits solutions, personal insurance lines, and human resources consulting services. The company was formerly known as Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania and changed its name to Univest Financial Corporation in January 2019. The company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Souderton, Pennsylvania.