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

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Guild and Onity Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

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

Guild presently has a consensus target price of $16.80, suggesting a potential upside of 23.62%. Onity Group has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 45.58%. Given Onity Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Onity Group is more favorable than Guild.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guild	$745.56 million	1.13	-$39.01 million	($1.55)	-8.77
Onity Group	$1.11 billion	0.22	-$63.70 million	$1.51	20.47

Guild has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Risk and Volatility

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

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

Profitability

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

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

Summary

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

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.

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.