Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) and Freedom Financial (OTCMKTS:FDVA) Critical Survey

Freedom Financial (OTCMKTS:FDVA) and Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Freedom Financial and Fulton Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freedom Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Fulton Financial	0	4	2	0	2.33

Fulton Financial has a consensus price target of $23.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.63%. Given Fulton Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fulton Financial is more favorable than Freedom Financial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

72.0% of Fulton Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 13.3% of Freedom Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Fulton Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Freedom Financial and Fulton Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freedom Financial	$63.61 million	1.35	$380,000.00	($0.07)	-172.86
Fulton Financial	$1.89 billion	2.39	$391.61 million	$2.10	11.26

Fulton Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Freedom Financial. Freedom Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fulton Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Freedom Financial has a beta of 0.08, indicating that its share price is 92% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fulton Financial has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Freedom Financial and Fulton Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freedom Financial	-0.78%	-0.57%	-0.05%
Fulton Financial	20.85%	12.69%	1.28%

Summary

Fulton Financial beats Freedom Financial on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Freedom Financial

Freedom Financial Holdings, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for The Freedom Bank of Virginia that provides commercial banking, personal banking, and mortgage banking solutions. The company offers personal and business checking accounts, interest bearing business savings accounts, money market accounts, personal savings accounts, certificates of deposits, and IRAs, as well as insured cash sweep and certificate of deposit account registry services. It also provides business term, personal, and mortgage loans; commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate mortgage and small business lending services; home equity lines; and credit cards. In addition, the company offers treasury management, online and mobile banking, remote deposit capture, ACH, and wire transfer services; business valuation, bank-at-work, and merchant services; and prestige banking services. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.

About Fulton Financial

Fulton Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. It accepts various checking accounts and savings deposit products, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company offers consumer loans products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans, personal lines of credit, and checking account overdraft protection; construction and jumbo residential mortgage loans; and commercial lending products comprising commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, and construction loans, as well as equipment lease financing loans. In addition, it offers letters of credit, cash management services, and traditional deposit products; and wealth management services, including investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and investment advisory services. Further, the company owns trust preferred securities; and sells various life insurance products. It provides its products and services through financial center offices, as well as through a network of automated teller machines, telephone banking, mobile banking, and online banking. Fulton Financial Corporation was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.