Fifth District Bancorp (NASDAQ:FDSB) versus Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Critical Review

Fifth District Bancorp (NASDAQ:FDSB) and Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Fifth District Bancorp and Sierra Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fifth District Bancorp	6.97%	1.27%	0.31%
Sierra Bancorp	22.37%	12.38%	1.20%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

55.4% of Sierra Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of Fifth District Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of Sierra Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Fifth District Bancorp has a beta of 0.2, indicating that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Bancorp has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Fifth District Bancorp and Sierra Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fifth District Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Sierra Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40

Sierra Bancorp has a consensus target price of $38.67, indicating a potential downside of 4.97%. Given Sierra Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sierra Bancorp is more favorable than Fifth District Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Fifth District Bancorp and Sierra Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fifth District Bancorp	$14.95 million	6.46	$4.09 million	$0.34	54.25
Sierra Bancorp	$201.98 million	2.61	$42.33 million	$3.42	11.90

Sierra Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Fifth District Bancorp. Sierra Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fifth District Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Sierra Bancorp beats Fifth District Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fifth District Bancorp

Fifth District Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Fifth District Savings Bank which provide all banking services. Fifth District Bancorp, Inc. is based in NEW ORLEANS.

About Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the Sierra that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in California. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market demand accounts, time deposits, retirement accounts, and sweep accounts. The company's loan products include agricultural, commercial, consumer, real estate, construction, and mortgage loans. It also offers automated teller machines; electronic point-of-sale payment alternatives; online and automated telephone banking services; and remote deposit capture and automated payroll services for business customers. Sierra Bancorp was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Porterville, California.