Analyzing Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) & Suncrest Bank (OTCMKTS:SBKK)

Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) and Suncrest Bank (OTCMKTS:SBKK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Suncrest Bank has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.9% of Suncrest Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and Suncrest Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Colony Bankcorp	13.51%	9.64%	0.85%
Suncrest Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Colony Bankcorp and Suncrest Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Colony Bankcorp	0	0	1	0	3.00
Suncrest Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

Colony Bankcorp presently has a consensus price target of $21.00, indicating a potential upside of 30.67%. Given Colony Bankcorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Colony Bankcorp is more favorable than Suncrest Bank.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and Suncrest Bank”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Colony Bankcorp	$121.88 million	2.30	$23.87 million	$1.58	10.17
Suncrest Bank	$46.73 million	4.92	$16.96 million	$1.37	13.56

Colony Bankcorp has higher revenue and earnings than Suncrest Bank. Colony Bankcorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Suncrest Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Colony Bankcorp beats Suncrest Bank on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers internet banking services, electronic bill payment services, safe deposit box rentals, telephone banking, credit and debit card services, and remote depository products, as well as access to a network of ATMs. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.

About Suncrest Bank

Suncrest Bank engages in the provision of personal and commercial banking services. It provides checking, savings and certificates of deposits, lending, cash management, online and mobile banking, e-statements, remote deposit capture, financial calculators, and customer service center. It also offers agricultural real estate loans, production finance, equipment financing and leasing, development loans, long-term fixed rate, SBA and USDA loans, valley small business guaranteed loans, USDA B&I loans, farmer mac loans, and cal-cap loans. The company was founded on May 19, 2008 and is headquartered in Visalia, CA.