Critical Contrast: TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) & BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB)

TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) and BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

TriCo Bancshares has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BEO Bancorp has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for TriCo Bancshares and BEO Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TriCo Bancshares	0	4	3	0	2.43
BEO Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

TriCo Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $48.60, indicating a potential upside of 1.36%. Given TriCo Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe TriCo Bancshares is more favorable than BEO Bancorp.

Dividends

TriCo Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. BEO Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. TriCo Bancshares pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TriCo Bancshares has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. TriCo Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TriCo Bancshares and BEO Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TriCo Bancshares	$531.04 million	2.94	$114.87 million	$3.56	13.47
BEO Bancorp	$57.76 million	2.28	$16.49 million	N/A	N/A

TriCo Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than BEO Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares TriCo Bancshares and BEO Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TriCo Bancshares	21.87%	9.27%	1.19%
BEO Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

59.1% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.8% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

TriCo Bancshares beats BEO Bancorp on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TriCo Bancshares

TriCo Bancshares operates as a bank holding company for Tri Counties Bank that provides commercial banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides small business loans; real estate mortgage loans, such as residential and commercial loans; consumer loans; mortgage, auto, other vehicle, and personal loans; commercial loans, including agricultural loans; and real estate construction loans. In addition, the company offers treasury management services; credit and debit cards; and other customary banking services, including safe deposit boxes; and independent financial and broker-dealer services. Further, it provides checking, saving, and money market accounts, as well as individual retirement accounts; equipment financing; certificate of deposit account registry service; certificated of deposit; and IntraFi cash service. TriCo Bancshares was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Chico, California.

About BEO Bancorp

BEO Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Eastern Oregon that provides commercial and consumer financing, banking and mortgage lending, and other services in Northeastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington. The company offers checking, money market, time deposits, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial, agricultural, real estate, installment, credit card, mortgage, term, home, construction, farm, and refinancing loans; lines of credit; home enhancement loan programs; Internet banking and bill payment services; business sweep and banking services; and automated teller machines and safe deposit facilities, as well as originates and sells mortgage loans into the secondary market. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Heppner, Oregon.