Comparing Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) & Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK)

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) and Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Chesapeake Financial Shares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	17.22%	13.24%	1.16%
Chesapeake Financial Shares	17.24%	15.88%	1.20%

Volatility and Risk

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Financial Shares has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Chesapeake Financial Shares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	0	0	1	0	3.00
Chesapeake Financial Shares	0	0	0	0	0.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

43.8% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.5% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.5% of Chesapeake Financial Shares 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.

Dividends

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Chesapeake Financial Shares pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chesapeake Financial Shares pays out 16.1% 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 Bancorp of North Carolina has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Chesapeake Financial Shares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	$114.60 million	1.87	$19.83 million	$3.63	10.83
Chesapeake Financial Shares	$102.27 million	1.59	$10.00 million	$4.22	8.18

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has higher revenue and earnings than Chesapeake Financial Shares. Chesapeake Financial Shares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina beats Chesapeake Financial Shares on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses. It offers checking, savings, money market, and retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; and credit and debit cards. The company also originates commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, construction and land development loans, and residential mortgage loans; and individual taxpayer identification number mortgage loans, as well as agricultural loans. In addition, it provides investment counseling and non-deposit investment products, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, tax deferred annuities, and related brokerage services; and real estate appraisal and brokerage services. Further, the company operates as a clearing-house for the provision of appraisal services for community banks; and acquires, manages, and disposes real property, other collateral, and other assets obtained in the ordinary course of collecting debts. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Newton, North Carolina.

About Chesapeake Financial Shares

Chesapeake Financial Shares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Chesapeake Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts interest and noninterest checking, savings, and money market accounts; and variable-rate and fixed-term money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers mortgage, and single-family residential and residential construction loans; commercial loans, which include owner-occupied commercial development, retail, builders/contractors, medical, service and professional, hospitality, nonprofits, marine industry, and agricultural and seafood loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company provides merchant processing, accounts receivable financing, wealth management and trust, and mortgage banking services, as well as cash management services. The company was founded in 1900 and is based in Kilmarnock, Virginia.