Roma Financial Corporation Stock Downgraded (ROMA)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Roma Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:ROMA) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The revenue growth greatly exceeded the industry average of 13.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 21.5%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displaying stagnant earnings per share.
• ROMA FINANCIAL CORP reported flat earnings per share in the most recent quarter. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, ROMA FINANCIAL CORP increased its bottom line by earning $0.17 versus $0.10 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.21 versus $0.17).
• The gross profit margin for ROMA FINANCIAL CORP is rather high; currently it is at 66.40%. Regardless of ROMA's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 6.90% trails the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to $1.66 million or 62.26% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed against the S&P 500 and did not exceed that of the Thrifts & Mortgage Finance industry. The net income has decreased by 5.1% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $1.46 million to $1.39 million.

Roma Financial Corporation operates as a holding company for Roma Bank and RomAsia Bank that provide traditional retail banking services primarily in New Jersey. The company has a P/E ratio of 50.8, equal to the average banking industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Roma Financial has a market cap of $277.4 million and is part of the financial sector and banking industry. Shares are down 18.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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