Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS – Get Free Report) and USCB Financial (NASDAQ:USCB – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Peoples Financial Services and USCB Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Peoples Financial Services | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.25 |
| USCB Financial | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2.83 |
Peoples Financial Services currently has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential downside of 7.33%. USCB Financial has a consensus target price of $24.33, suggesting a potential upside of 21.73%. Given USCB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe USCB Financial is more favorable than Peoples Financial Services.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
31.7% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.3% of USCB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.2% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.4% of USCB Financial shares are owned 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.
Volatility & Risk
Peoples Financial Services has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, USCB Financial has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Peoples Financial Services and USCB Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Peoples Financial Services | $283.67 million | 2.49 | $59.19 million | $8.83 | 8.00 |
| USCB Financial | $97.13 million | 3.80 | $26.10 million | $1.58 | 12.65 |
Peoples Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than USCB Financial. Peoples Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than USCB Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Peoples Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $2.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. USCB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Peoples Financial Services pays out 28.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. USCB Financial pays out 31.6% 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. Peoples Financial Services has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and USCB Financial has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Peoples Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Profitability
This table compares Peoples Financial Services and USCB Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Peoples Financial Services | 20.66% | 17.27% | 1.70% |
| USCB Financial | 17.44% | 15.76% | 1.23% |
Summary
Peoples Financial Services beats USCB Financial on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Peoples Financial Services
Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides residential real estate, automobile, manufactured housing, personal, and home equity loans; and commercial real estate, working capital, construction, small business administration, and agricultural loans, as well as loans for equipment and other commercial needs, and mineral rights. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment services; investment management, IRA trustee, estate administration, living and life insurance trust, trustee under will, guardianship, custodial/IRA custodial, and corporate trust services, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans. Further, it provides wealth management products and services comprising investment portfolio management, estate and business succession planning, annuities, insurance, retirement plan, and tax planning, as well as education funding strategies; and securities, brokerage, and investor services. Additionally, the company offers small business checking and merchant money market accounts, online and telephone banking, business credit cards, merchant line of credit, and financial checkup services; and remote deposit capture, automatic clearing house transaction, cash management, automated teller machine, point of sale transaction, safe deposit box, night depository, direct deposit, and official check services. It serves business, non-profit, governmental, municipal agency, and professional customers, as well as retail customers. Peoples Financial Services Corp. was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
About USCB Financial
USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for U.S. Century Bank that engages in the provision of various personal and business banking products and services in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including commercial and consumer checking, money market deposit, savings, and time deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers loan products, such as small business administration loans, yacht financing, residential and commercial real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; foreign bank loans; and secured and unsecured consumer loans comprising personal loans, overdrafts, and deposit account collateralized loans. The company also offers lockbox, treasury, commercial payments, cash management, and online banking services, as well as provides title insurance policies for real estate transactions. USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
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