Head-To-Head Comparison: NewtekOne (NASDAQ:NEWT) versus Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB)

NewtekOne (NASDAQ:NEWT) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

38.3% of NewtekOne shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of NewtekOne shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Associated Banc shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

NewtekOne pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. NewtekOne pays out 34.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 33.6% 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. NewtekOne has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Associated Banc has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for NewtekOne and Associated Banc, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NewtekOne	1	4	1	0	2.00
Associated Banc	0	6	5	1	2.58

NewtekOne presently has a consensus price target of $16.33, suggesting a potential upside of 39.41%. Associated Banc has a consensus price target of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.33%. Given NewtekOne’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NewtekOne is more favorable than Associated Banc.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NewtekOne and Associated Banc”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NewtekOne	$276.53 million	1.22	$60.51 million	$2.22	5.28
Associated Banc	$2.46 billion	2.27	$474.78 million	$2.86	10.33

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

Volatility and Risk

NewtekOne has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares NewtekOne and Associated Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NewtekOne	15.57%	17.97%	2.26%
Associated Banc	19.66%	10.64%	1.12%

Summary

Associated Banc beats NewtekOne on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NewtekOne

NewtekOne, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Newtek Bank, National Association that engages in the provision of various business and financial solutions under the Newtek brand name to the small- and medium-sized business market. The company accepts demand, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposits; and provides loans including SBA loans, commercial and industrial loans, and commercial real estate loans. It is also involved in the provision of electronic payment processing services comprising credit and debit card processing services, check approval services, processing equipment, and software, as well as cloud-based Point of Sale systems for a various restaurant, retail, assisted living, taxi cabs, parks, and golf course businesses. In addition, it offers wholesale brokerage insurance agency services; and payroll management, and related payment and tax reporting services to independent business owners. Further, the company provides website hosting, dedicated server hosting, cloud hosting, web design and development, internet marketing, ecommerce, data storage, backup and disaster recovery, and other related services, including consulting and implementing technology solutions for enterprise and commercial clients as well as SMBs. The company was formerly known as Newtek Business Services Corp. and changed its name to NewtekOne, Inc. in January 2023. NewtekOne, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

About Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.