Critical Contrast: PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) and Onity Group (NYSE:ONIT)

PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) and Onity Group (NYSE:ONIT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

PennyMac Financial Services has a beta of 1.77, indicating that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Onity Group has a beta of 1.84, indicating that its share price is 84% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for PennyMac Financial Services and Onity Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PennyMac Financial Services	0	2	4	0	2.67
Onity Group	0	0	1	1	3.50

PennyMac Financial Services presently has a consensus target price of $111.50, suggesting a potential upside of 6.28%. Onity Group has a consensus target price of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.28%. Given Onity Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Onity Group is more favorable than PennyMac Financial Services.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PennyMac Financial Services	13.13%	12.69%	2.30%
Onity Group	0.16%	15.54%	0.52%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.9% of PennyMac Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.2% of Onity Group shares are held by institutional investors. 16.6% of PennyMac Financial Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Onity Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares PennyMac Financial Services 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
PennyMac Financial Services	$2.01 billion	2.65	$144.66 million	$2.88	36.43
Onity Group	$1.10 billion	0.21	-$63.70 million	$0.53	56.79

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

Summary

PennyMac Financial Services beats Onity Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PennyMac Financial Services

PennyMac Financial Services, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the mortgage banking and investment management activities in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Production, Servicing, and Investment Management. The Production segment is involved in the origination, acquisition, and sale of loans. This segment sources residential conventional and government-insured or guaranteed mortgage loans through correspondent production, consumer direct lending, and broker direct lending. The Servicing segment performs loan servicing for both newly originated loans that are under holding for sale and loans services for others. The segment performs loan administration, collection, and default management activities, including the collection and remittance of loan payments; responds to customer inquiries; provides accounting for principal and interest; holds custodial funds for the payment of property taxes and insurance premiums; counsels delinquent borrowers; and supervising foreclosures and property dispositions, as well as administers loss mitigation activities, such as modification and forbearance programs. The Investment Management segment is involved in sourcing, performing diligence, bidding, and closing investment asset acquisitions; managing correspondent production activities for PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust; and managing acquired assets. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Westlake Village, 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.