Critical Survey: AmeriServ Financial (ASRV) and The Competition

AmeriServ Financial (NASDAQ:ASRV) is one of 131 public companies in the “BANKS – NORTHEAST” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare AmeriServ Financial to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

31.5% of AmeriServ Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.6% of shares of all “BANKS – NORTHEAST” companies are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of AmeriServ Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.9% of shares of all “BANKS – NORTHEAST” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

AmeriServ Financial has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AmeriServ Financial’s peers have a beta of 0.48, suggesting that their average share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

AmeriServ Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. AmeriServ Financial pays out 35.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “BANKS – NORTHEAST” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.4% and pay out 30.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares AmeriServ Financial and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AmeriServ Financial	6.35%	4.93%	0.39%
AmeriServ Financial Competitors	14.38%	9.05%	0.95%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for AmeriServ Financial and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AmeriServ Financial	0	0	1	0	3.00
AmeriServ Financial Competitors	680	3238	2520	166	2.33

As a group, “BANKS – NORTHEAST” companies have a potential upside of 3.89%. Given AmeriServ Financial’s peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe AmeriServ Financial has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AmeriServ Financial and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
AmeriServ Financial	$88.34 million	$5.61 million	11.59
AmeriServ Financial Competitors	$402.61 million	$72.56 million	6.68

AmeriServ Financial’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than AmeriServ Financial. AmeriServ Financial is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

AmeriServ Financial peers beat AmeriServ Financial on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About AmeriServ Financial

AmeriServ Financial, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of consumer, mortgage and commercial financial products and services through its subsidiary. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Wealth Management, and Investment or Parent. The Community Banking segment includes both retail and commercial banking activities. The Wealth Management segment involves in the operations of a Trust Company, West Chester Capital Advisors an investment advisory firm, and Financial Services. The Investment or Parent segment offers investment securities, borrowing activities, and general corporate expenses. The company was founded in January 1983 and is headquartered in Johnstown, PA.