Financial Review: Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) & BV Financial (NASDAQ:BVFL)

BV Financial (NASDAQ:BVFL) and Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares BV Financial and Bankwell Financial Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BV Financial	$52.43 million	3.55	$13.49 million	$1.39	15.48
Bankwell Financial Group	$114.98 million	4.09	$35.20 million	$4.98	11.84

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for BV Financial and Bankwell Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BV Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00
Bankwell Financial Group	0	1	2	0	2.67

Bankwell Financial Group has a consensus target price of $52.00, indicating a potential downside of 11.80%. Given Bankwell Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bankwell Financial Group is more favorable than BV Financial.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.7% of BV Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.8% of Bankwell Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 15.7% of BV Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.0% of Bankwell Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

BV Financial has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bankwell Financial Group has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BV Financial and Bankwell Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BV Financial	23.73%	9.02%	1.87%
Bankwell Financial Group	18.71%	13.31%	1.20%

Summary

Bankwell Financial Group beats BV Financial on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BV Financial

BV Financial, Inc. operates as the holding company for BayVanguard Bank that provides various financial services to individuals and businesses in Maryland. The company offers checking and money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposits. Its loan products include real estate, home equity, construction, lot, auto, boat, and other personal loans; and commercial lending products, such as commercial equipment/installation, commercial real estate, construction, investment real estate, lines of credit, and SBA loans, as well as loans for short-term real estate purchase, renovation, and sale projects. The company offers ATM, overdraft, safe deposit, bill pay, remote deposit capture, ACH origination, merchant, and online banking services. BV Financial, Inc. was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

About Bankwell Financial Group

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bankwell Bank that provides various banking services for individual and commercial customers. It offers various traditional depository products, including checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides first mortgage loans secured by one-to-four family owner occupied residential properties for personal use; home equity loans and home equity lines of credit secured by owner occupied one-to-four family residential properties; loans secured by commercial real estate, multi-family dwellings, owner-occupied commercial real estate, and investor-owned one-to-four family dwellings; commercial construction loans for commercial development projects, including apartment buildings and condominiums, as well as office buildings, retail, and other income producing properties; land loans; commercial business loans secured by assignments of corporate assets and personal guarantees of the business owners; loans to finance insurance premiums; overdraft lines of credit; and unsecured personal loans. It operates branches in New Canaan, Stamford, Fairfield, Westport, Darien, Norwalk, and Hamden, Connecticut. The company was formerly known as BNC Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. in September 2013. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New Canaan, Connecticut.