Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) & 1st Colonial Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FCOB) Head-To-Head Survey

1st Colonial Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FCOB) and Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for 1st Colonial Bancorp and Westamerica Bancorporation, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
1st Colonial Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Westamerica Bancorporation	0	2	0	0	2.00

Westamerica Bancorporation has a consensus price target of $53.50, indicating a potential upside of 8.45%. Given Westamerica Bancorporation’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Westamerica Bancorporation is more favorable than 1st Colonial Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares 1st Colonial Bancorp and Westamerica Bancorporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
1st Colonial Bancorp	17.09%	11.56%	0.92%
Westamerica Bancorporation	48.35%	21.99%	2.42%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.4% of 1st Colonial Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by company 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.

Risk and Volatility

1st Colonial Bancorp has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westamerica Bancorporation has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares 1st Colonial Bancorp and Westamerica Bancorporation’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
1st Colonial Bancorp	$42.11 million	1.70	$7.43 million	$1.55	9.74
Westamerica Bancorporation	$327.54 million	4.02	$161.77 million	$5.92	8.33

Westamerica Bancorporation has higher revenue and earnings than 1st Colonial Bancorp. Westamerica Bancorporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than 1st Colonial Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Westamerica Bancorporation beats 1st Colonial Bancorp on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About 1st Colonial Bancorp

1st Colonial Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for 1st Colonial Community Bank that provides a range of business and consumer financial services in New Jersey. The company offers various deposit products, including savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, club accounts, and business and personal checking accounts. It also provides home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, personal and vehicle loans, residential and commercial mortgages, construction loans, business lines of credit, equipment and vehicle financing, real estate loans, working capital line of credit, and business acquisition loans, as well as small business administration loans. In addition, the company offers cash management services comprising remote deposit capture, ACH/wire transfer, night deposit drop, and merchant services; safe deposit boxes; and coin counting, online and mobile banking, debit card, and ATM services. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

About Westamerica Bancorporation

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for the Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, and consumer installment loans, as well as indirect automobile loans. The company was formerly known as Independent Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Westamerica Bancorporation in 1983. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in San Rafael, California.