Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking services. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. It provides treasury management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, and overdraft privilege services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts services, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; advisory services and products for derivatives and commodities; agricultural insurance; and sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds; mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products; and provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services. The Mortgage Origination segment offers fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, jumbo, new construction, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Hilltop Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

WaFd, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Washington Federal Bank that provides lending, depository, insurance, and other banking services in the United States. The company provides deposit products, including business and personal checking accounts, and term certificates of deposit, as well as money market accounts and passbook savings accounts. It offers single-family residential, construction, land acquisition and development, consumer lot, multi-family residential, commercial real estate, home equity, business, and consumer loans, as well as commercial and industrial loans. In addition, the company offers insurance brokerage services, such as individual and business insurance policies; holds and markets real estate properties; and debit and credit cards, as well as acts as the trustee. Additionally, it provides technology and data services; and personalized financial guidance and investment services. It serves consumers, mid-sized and large businesses, and owners and developers of commercial real estate. The company was formerly known as Washington Federal, Inc. and changed its name to WaFd, Inc. in September 2023. WaFd, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Latest Banks and Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd, Inc. Stock News

As of September 8, 2026, Hilltop Holdings Inc. had a $2.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $757.3 million. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s stock is up 13% in 2026, up 1.5% in the previous five trading days and up 9.47% in the past year.

Currently, Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 14.3. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 12.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.407 per share for the current fiscal year. Hilltop Holdings Inc. currently has a 2.3% dividend yield.

As of September 8, 2026, WaFd, Inc. had a $2.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 57th percentile of all stocks. WaFd, Inc.’s stock is up 5.7% in 2026, down 4.3% in the previous five trading days and up 7.97% in the past year.

Currently, WaFd, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 10.8. WaFd, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $761.1 million with a 33.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.225 per share for the current fiscal year. WaFd, Inc. currently has a 3.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Hilltop Holdings Inc.	HTH	A
WaFd, Inc.	WAFD	B

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Value Score of 88, which is Deep Value. WaFd, Inc. has a Value Score of 80, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: Hilltop Holdings Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Hilltop Holdings Inc. is considered to have better value than WaFd, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Hilltop Holdings Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Hilltop Holdings Inc.	HTH	D
WaFd, Inc.	WAFD	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Quality Score of 21, which is Weak. WaFd, Inc. has a Quality Score of 27, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd or Inc. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Hilltop Holdings Inc.	HTH	C
WaFd, Inc.	WAFD	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 47, which is Neutral. WaFd, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 47, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd or Inc. has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade that could be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc. Grades

In addition to Quality, Value and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Hilltop Holdings Inc. stock has a Value Score of 88, Estimate Revisions Score of 47 and Quality Score of 21.

WaFd, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 80, Estimate Revisions Score of 47 and Quality Score of 27.

Comparing Hilltop Holdings Inc., WaFd and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.