Critical Comparison: Intercorp Financial Services (NYSE:IFS) vs. Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ)

Intercorp Financial Services (NYSE:IFS) and Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Intercorp Financial Services and Esquire Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intercorp Financial Services	0	0	1	0	3.00
Esquire Financial	0	1	1	1	3.00

Intercorp Financial Services currently has a consensus target price of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.49%. Esquire Financial has a consensus target price of $71.67, indicating a potential downside of 9.01%. Given Intercorp Financial Services’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Intercorp Financial Services is more favorable than Esquire Financial.

Volatility & Risk

Intercorp Financial Services has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Intercorp Financial Services and Esquire Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intercorp Financial Services	18.00%	10.67%	1.18%
Esquire Financial	31.38%	19.53%	2.47%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 18.9% of Esquire Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Intercorp Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $0.95 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Intercorp Financial Services pays out 37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Esquire Financial pays out 12.1% 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Intercorp Financial Services and Esquire Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intercorp Financial Services	$6.22 billion	0.54	$286.85 million	$2.55	11.48
Esquire Financial	$120.71 million	5.43	$41.01 million	$4.97	15.85

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

Summary

Esquire Financial beats Intercorp Financial Services on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Intercorp Financial Services

Intercorp Financial Services Inc., together with its subsidiaries, offers banking, insurance, wealth management, and payment services for retail and commercial clients in Peru. The company provides loans, credit facilities, deposits, and current accounts; life annuity products with single-premium payment and conventional life insurance products, as well as other retail insurance products; and brokerage and investment management services. It engages in the development, management, operation, and processing of credit and debit cards; facilitation of payments and services through commercial stores; and installation and maintenance of infrastructure for transactions through electronic commerce modality and networks of payment methods processors. The company was incorporated in 1897 and is based in Lima, Peru. Intercorp Financial Services Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Intercorp Perú Ltd.

About Esquire Financial

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Esquire Bank, National Association that provides commercial banking products and services to legal industry and small businesses, and commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, money market, and time deposits, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial loans, such as short-term financing for inventory, receivables, the purchase of supplies, or other operating needs arising during the normal course of business, as well as loans to its qualified ISO customers; commercial lines of credit; consumer loans consisting of post-settlement consumer and structured settlement loans to plaintiffs and claimants, as well as loans to individuals for debt consolidation, medical expenses, living expenses, payment of outstanding bills, or other consumer needs; and real estate loans, such as multifamily, 1-4 family residential, commercial real estate, and construction loans, as well as merchant services. In addition, it offers cash management, cash sweep, online and mobile banking, individual retirement accounts, and working capital lines of credit. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Jericho, New York.