Critical Review: Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI) vs. TFS Financial (NASDAQ:TFSL)

TFS Financial (NASDAQ:TFSL) and Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares TFS Financial and Citizens Community Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TFS Financial	10.49%	4.22%	0.47%
Citizens Community Bancorp	14.70%	8.64%	0.83%

Dividends

TFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.0%. Citizens Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. TFS Financial pays out 418.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Citizens Community Bancorp pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for TFS Financial and Citizens Community Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TFS Financial	0	2	0	0	2.00
Citizens Community Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00

TFS Financial currently has a consensus price target of $14.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.26%. Given TFS Financial’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe TFS Financial is more favorable than Citizens Community Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

TFS Financial has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Community Bancorp has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TFS Financial and Citizens Community Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TFS Financial	$758.78 million	4.66	$79.59 million	$0.27	46.59
Citizens Community Bancorp	$94.50 million	1.71	$13.06 million	$1.41	11.41

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.8% of TFS Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.1% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of TFS Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Citizens Community Bancorp beats TFS Financial on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TFS Financial

TFS Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides retail consumer banking services in the United States. Its deposit products include savings, money market, checking, individual retirement, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides residential real estate mortgage loans, residential construction loans, and home equity loans and lines of credit, as well as purchase mortgages and first mortgage refinance loans. In addition, it offers escrow and settlement services. The company provides its products and services through its main office in Cleveland, Ohio; and multiple full-service branches and loan production offices located throughout the states of Ohio and Florida. TFS Financial Corporation was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. TFS Financial Corporation is a subsidiary of Third Federal Savings and Loan Association of Cleveland, MHC.

About Citizens Community Bancorp

Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Community Federal N.A. that provides various traditional community banking services to businesses, agricultural operators, and consumers. It accepts various deposit products, including demand deposits, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also offers various loan products, such as commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural real estate, agricultural operating, and consumer loans; and one-to-four family residential mortgages and home equity lines-of-credit. In addition, it maintains a portfolio of investments comprising mortgage-backed, corporate asset-backed, U.S. Government sponsored agency, and corporate debt securities. Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.