Contrasting Onity Group (NYSE:ONIT) & Guild (NYSE:GHLD)

Onity Group (NYSE:ONIT) and Guild (NYSE:GHLD) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Onity Group and Guild, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Onity Group	0	0	1	1	3.50
Guild	1	1	3	0	2.40

Onity Group currently has a consensus target price of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 45.68%. Guild has a consensus target price of $16.80, indicating a potential upside of 23.08%. Given Onity Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Onity Group is more favorable than Guild.

Profitability

This table compares Onity Group and Guild’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Onity Group	1.41%	21.05%	0.71%
Guild	-12.78%	6.21%	1.76%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.2% of Onity Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.5% of Guild shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of Onity Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 78.0% of Guild shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Onity Group and Guild”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Onity Group	$1.07 billion	0.23	-$63.70 million	$1.51	20.46
Guild	$745.56 million	1.13	-$39.01 million	($1.55)	-8.81

Guild has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Onity Group. Guild is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Onity Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Onity Group has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guild has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Onity Group beats Guild on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Onity Group

Onity Group Inc., a financial services company, originates and services mortgage loans in the United States, the United States Virgin Islands, India, and the Philippines. It operates through, Servicing and Originations segments. The company provides commercial forward mortgage loan servicing, reverse mortgage servicing, special servicing, and asset management services for to owners of mortgage loans and foreclosed real estate, as well as residential mortgage loan servicing, such as forward and reverse conventional, government-insured, and non-agency loans, including the reverse mortgage loans classified as loans. It also originates and purchases conventional and government-insured residential forward and reverse mortgage loans through its correspondent lending arrangements, broker relationships, and retail channels. It serves primarily under the PHH Mortgage and Liberty Reverse Mortgage brands. The company was formerly known as Ocwen Financial Corporation and changed its name to Onity Group Inc. in June 2024. Onity Group Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.

About Guild

Guild Holdings Company originates, sells, and services residential mortgage loans in the United States. It operates in two segments, Origination and Servicing. The company offers residential mortgages through retail and correspondent channels. Guild Holdings Company was incorporated in 1960 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.