Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. vs SLM Corp, two Credit Services stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
The margin gap is nearly four-fold: SLM (Sallie Mae) nets 49.8% of revenue on private student-loan spreads, Bread Financial 13.6% on private-label card economics. SLM earns 30.7% on equity to Bread's 16.9%, the student lender's fatter spreads winning on returns too. Both trade cheap, 7.1 and 8.7 times earnings; both pay small dividends near 2% and 0.8%. SLM carries 2.53 turns of debt against Bread's clean sheet; its negative free-cash figure is loan-book growth against Bread's 47.7%. The pair prices two consumer lenders on different collateral, student loans against store cards; SLM's spreads are fatter and its multiple lower, the market pricing student-lending policy risk into an otherwise superior income statement.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | BFH | SLM |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $106.19 | $25.47 |
| Market cap | $4.6B | $5.0B |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| P/E | 8.7 | 7.1 |
| P/B | 1.38 | 2.07 |
| P/S | 1.11 | 3.35 |
| EV/EBITDA | 12.2 | 1397.9 |
| Revenue growth | +2.5% | +2.3% |
| Net margin | 13.6% | 49.8% |
| Return on equity | 16.9% | 30.7% |
| Return on assets | 2.5% | 2.5% |
| Dividend yield | 0.8% | 2.0% |
| Debt / equity | 0.00 | 2.53 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 0.43 | 0.40 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 9 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.