Contrasting Axos Financial (NYSE:AX) & SR Bancorp (NASDAQ:SRBK)

Axos Financial (NYSE:AX) and SR Bancorp (NASDAQ:SRBK) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Axos Financial and SR Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Axos Financial	0	2	5	1	2.88
SR Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50

Axos Financial currently has a consensus target price of $115.67, suggesting a potential upside of 29.74%. SR Bancorp has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.76%. Given Axos Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Axos Financial is more favorable than SR Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Axos Financial and SR Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Axos Financial	$2.19 billion	2.31	$490.37 million	$8.47	10.53
SR Bancorp	$51.80 million	2.89	$3.35 million	$0.45	41.09

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.8% of Axos Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.7% of SR Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Axos Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of SR Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Axos Financial has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SR Bancorp has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Axos Financial and SR Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Axos Financial	22.39%	16.96%	1.77%
SR Bancorp	6.47%	1.62%	0.26%

Summary

Axos Financial beats SR Bancorp on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Axos Financial

Axos Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides consumer and business banking products in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking Business and Securities Business. The company offers deposits products, including consumer and business checking, demand, savings, time deposit, money market, zero balance, and insured cash sweep accounts. It also provides residential single family, multifamily, and commercial mortgage loans; commercial real estate secured loans; commercial and industrial non-real estate, asset-backed, lines of credit, and term loans; automobile loans; fixed rate unsecured loans; and other loans, such as structure settlements, small business administration consumer loans, and securities-backed loans. In addition, the company offers ACH origination, wire transfer, commercial check printing, business bill pay and account transfer; remote deposit capture, mobile deposit, lockbox, merchant, and online payment portal; concierge banking; mobile and text message banking; and payment services, as well as debit and credit cards, and digital wallets. Further, it provides disclosed clearing services; back-office services, such as record keeping, trade reporting, accounting, general back-office support, securities and margin lending, reorganization assistance, and custody of securities; and financing to brokerage customers. The company was formerly known as BofI Holding, Inc. and changed its name to Axos Financial, Inc. in September 2018. Axos Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About SR Bancorp

SR Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Somerset Regal Bank that provides customary retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and local municipalities in the communities of Somerset, Middlesex, Hunterdon, and Essex counties in New Jersey. It offers deposit instruments, including noninterest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides loans comprising one- to four family-residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, unsecured personal loans, and rehabilitation loans; and bill payment services. In addition, it is involved in the investment activities. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Bound Brook, New Jersey.