Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) vs. Coastal Financial (NASDAQ:CCB) Head to Head Comparison

Coastal Financial (NASDAQ:CCB) and Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

59.2% of Coastal Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.4% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.1% of Coastal Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.6% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Coastal Financial and Sierra Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Coastal Financial	0	1	5	1	3.00
Sierra Bancorp	0	2	2	0	2.50

Coastal Financial currently has a consensus price target of $125.17, suggesting a potential upside of 12.42%. Sierra Bancorp has a consensus price target of $34.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.54%. Given Coastal Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Coastal Financial is more favorable than Sierra Bancorp.

Volatility & Risk

Coastal Financial has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Bancorp has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Coastal Financial and Sierra Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Coastal Financial	$703.32 million	2.39	$45.22 million	$3.16	35.23
Sierra Bancorp	$203.87 million	2.29	$40.56 million	$2.87	12.21

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Coastal Financial	7.14%	10.45%	1.09%
Sierra Bancorp	19.70%	11.17%	1.08%

Summary

Coastal Financial beats Sierra Bancorp on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Coastal Financial

Coastal Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Coastal Community Bank that provides various banking products and services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and individuals in the Puget Sound region in Washington. It accepts a range of deposit products, including demand and savings accounts, time deposits, and money market accounts. The company also offers commercial and industrial loans, such as term loans, commercial lines of credit, capital call lines working capital loans, equipment financing, borrowing base loans, small business administration loans, and other loan products; owner and non-owner-occupied real estate loans, and multi-family residential loans; construction, land, and land development loans; residential real estate loans; and consumer and other loans, including automobile, boat and recreational vehicle, and secured term loans, as well as personal lines of credit, including overdraft protection. In addition, it provides remote deposit capture, online and mobile banking, and direct and reciprocal deposit services; and debit cards. Further, the company offers business accounts and cash management services, including business checking and savings accounts, and treasury services, as well as Banking as a Service (BaaS), a platform that allows broker dealers and digital financial service providers to offer their customers banking services. Coastal Financial Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Everett, Washington.

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.