Sterling Bancorp (NASDAQ:SBT) and Frederick County Bancorp (MD) (OTCMKTS:FCBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and profitability.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Sterling Bancorp and Frederick County Bancorp (MD)’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Sterling Bancorp | $183.81 million | 2.18 | $63.47 million | $1.20 | 6.66 |
| Frederick County Bancorp (MD) | $18.62 million | 3.16 | $2.96 million | N/A | N/A |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
27.9% of Sterling Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Sterling Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.2% of Frederick County Bancorp (MD) shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Risk and Volatility
Sterling Bancorp has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Frederick County Bancorp (MD) has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
Sterling Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Frederick County Bancorp (MD) pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Sterling Bancorp pays out 3.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Profitability
This table compares Sterling Bancorp and Frederick County Bancorp (MD)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Sterling Bancorp | 31.01% | 17.26% | 1.81% |
| Frederick County Bancorp (MD) | 11.41% | N/A | N/A |
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Sterling Bancorp and Frederick County Bancorp (MD), as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Sterling Bancorp | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Frederick County Bancorp (MD) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
Sterling Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $12.25, suggesting a potential upside of 53.32%. Given Sterling Bancorp’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Sterling Bancorp is more favorable than Frederick County Bancorp (MD).
Summary
Sterling Bancorp beats Frederick County Bancorp (MD) on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
Sterling Bancorp Company Profile
Sterling Bancorp, Inc. is a unitary thrift holding company. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Sterling Bank and Trust, F.S.B., has primary branch operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California and New York City, and a loan production office in Seattle, Washington. Sterling offers a broad range of loan products to the residential and commercial markets, as well as retail and business banking services. Sterling also has an operations center and a branch in Southfield, Michigan. Sterling was named as the top performing community bank in the United States with total assets between $1 billion and $10 billion in 2017 by SNL/S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Frederick County Bancorp (MD) Company Profile
Frederick County Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Frederick County Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and commercial enterprises in the Frederick County, Maryland. It offers deposit products, including personal checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and health savings accounts; and business checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposits. The company provides home equity, home equity fixed rate, mortgage, installment, vehicle, and unsecured loans, as well as home equity line of credit and lines of credit; and commercial loans, such as term loans, lines of credit, letters of credit, and real estate finance. It also offers cash management services comprising automated clearing house, wire origination, remote deposit capture, and zero balance account services. In addition, the company provides mobile deposit capture, overdraft protection, debit and credit card, automated teller machine, and night depository services; and business courier and merchant processing services, as well as online banking and bill pay services. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.
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