C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI – Get Free Report) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares C&F Financial and Plumas Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| C&F Financial | $186.13 million | 1.78 | $26.83 million | $8.96 | 11.39 |
| Plumas Bancorp | $112.17 million | 3.85 | $29.62 million | $5.08 | 12.23 |
Plumas Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than C&F Financial. C&F Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plumas Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
C&F Financial has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares C&F Financial and Plumas Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| C&F Financial | 14.91% | 10.72% | 1.02% |
| Plumas Bancorp | 27.39% | 15.41% | 1.80% |
Dividends
C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Plumas Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. C&F Financial pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Plumas Bancorp pays out 26.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. C&F Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Plumas Bancorp has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
37.2% of C&F Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned 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.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for C&F Financial and Plumas Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| C&F Financial | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.67 |
| Plumas Bancorp | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.25 |
C&F Financial currently has a consensus target price of $115.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.68%. Plumas Bancorp has a consensus target price of $66.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.80%. Given C&F Financial’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe C&F Financial is more favorable than Plumas Bancorp.
Summary
Plumas Bancorp beats C&F Financial on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About C&F Financial
C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.
About Plumas Bancorp
Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.
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