Reviewing BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) & NSTS Bancorp (NASDAQ:NSTS)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares BankUnited and NSTS Bancorp’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BankUnited	$1.31 billion	1.29	$284.97 million	$2.93	7.75
NSTS Bancorp	$7.58 million	6.35	$30,000.00	$0.03	291.76

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for BankUnited and NSTS Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BankUnited	1	4	1	0	2.00
NSTS Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

BankUnited presently has a consensus target price of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.89%. Given BankUnited’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe BankUnited is more favorable than NSTS Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares BankUnited and NSTS Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BankUnited	11.86%	8.91%	0.61%
NSTS Bancorp	2.54%	0.25%	0.08%

Volatility and Risk

BankUnited has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NSTS Bancorp has a beta of -0.04, suggesting that its stock price is 104% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.7% of BankUnited shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.8% of NSTS Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of BankUnited shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of NSTS Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

BankUnited beats NSTS Bancorp on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for BankUnited, a national banking association that provides a range of banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, money market deposit, and savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and treasury, commercial payment, and cash management services. Its loans portfolio includes commercial loans, including equipment loans, secured and unsecured lines of credit, formula-based lines of credit, owner-occupied commercial real estate term loans and lines of credit, mortgage warehouse lines, capital call lines, letters of credit, commercial credit cards, small business administration and U.S. department of agriculture product offerings, export-import bank financing products, trade finance, and business acquisition finance credit facilities; commercial real estate loans; residential mortgages; and other consumer loans. The company also offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services. It operates through a network of banking centers located in Florida counties and the New York metropolitan area, as well as Dallas, Texas. The company was formerly known as BU Financial Corporation. BankUnited, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida.

About NSTS Bancorp

NSTS Bancorp, Inc. operates as a savings and loan holding company for North Shore Trust and Savings that provides banking products and services in Illinois. The company offers interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, and time deposit accounts; and one- to four-family residential mortgage, multi-family and commercial real estate mortgage, construction, home equity, and consumer loans. It operates through full-service banking offices in Lake County, Illinois; and one loan production office in Chicago. The company was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois.