Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) & South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK) Head to Head Survey

South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK) and Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Dividends

South Atlantic Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Home Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. South Atlantic Bancshares pays out 4.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Bancorp pays out 21.1% 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. Home Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Home Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares South Atlantic Bancshares and Home Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
South Atlantic Bancshares	$102.25 million	1.69	$15.94 million	$2.10	10.83
Home Bancorp	$209.23 million	2.27	$46.06 million	$5.87	10.30

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

Profitability

This table compares South Atlantic Bancshares and Home Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
South Atlantic Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Home Bancorp	22.01%	11.03%	1.32%

Volatility and Risk

South Atlantic Bancshares has a beta of 0.09, suggesting that its stock price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Bancorp has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.3% of South Atlantic Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.4% of Home Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 7.9% of Home Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for South Atlantic Bancshares and Home Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
South Atlantic Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00
Home Bancorp	0	1	3	1	3.00

Home Bancorp has a consensus target price of $63.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.18%. Given Home Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Home Bancorp is more favorable than South Atlantic Bancshares.

Summary

Home Bancorp beats South Atlantic Bancshares on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About South Atlantic Bancshares

South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for South Atlantic Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, and corporations in South Carolina. The company offers checking, money market, and saving accounts, as well as certificate of deposit, individual retirement, and health saving accounts; personal, auto, and recreation loans, as well as home equity and ready reserve overdraft line of credits, and commercial lending products; and credit cards. It also provides cash management and merchant card services; remote deposit capture and automated clearing house services; online, mobile, and telephone banking services; personal and business checks; mortgage products and services; and wealth management services. The company operates offices in Myrtle Beach, Carolina Forest, North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, and Beaufort, South Carolina. South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides various loan products comprising one-to four-family first mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines, commercial real estate loans, construction and land loans, multi-family residential loans, commercial and industrial loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it invests in securities; and offers credit cards and online banking services. Home Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.