Head to Head Review: Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) and Silvergate Capital (NYSE:SI)

Silvergate Capital (NYSE:SI) and Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Silvergate Capital and Great Southern Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Silvergate Capital	45.10%	8.87%	0.81%
Great Southern Bancorp	17.40%	10.62%	1.04%

Risk & Volatility

Silvergate Capital has a beta of 2.23, indicating that its stock price is 123% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Silvergate Capital and Great Southern Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Silvergate Capital	-$609.47 million	-0.02	-$937.91 million	($29.96)	-0.01
Great Southern Bancorp	$224.01 million	2.97	$61.81 million	$5.60	10.37

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Silvergate Capital and Great Southern Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Silvergate Capital	0	0	0	0	0.00
Great Southern Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00

Great Southern Bancorp has a consensus target price of $59.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.50%. Given Great Southern Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Great Southern Bancorp is more favorable than Silvergate Capital.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.4% of Silvergate Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Silvergate Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.9% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Silvergate Capital pays an annual dividend of $2.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 840.6%. Great Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Silvergate Capital pays out -9.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Great Southern Bancorp pays out 28.6% 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. Silvergate Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Great Southern Bancorp beats Silvergate Capital on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Silvergate Capital

Silvergate Capital Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Silvergate Bank that provides banking products and services to business and individual clients in the United States. The company accepts deposit products, including interest and noninterest bearing demand accounts, money market and savings accounts, and certificates of deposit accounts. Its loan products comprise one-to-four family real estate loans, multi-family real estate loans, commercial real estate loans, construction loans, commercial and industrial loans, mortgage warehouse loans, and reverse mortgage loans, as well as consumer loans and other loans secured by personal property. The company also provides cash management services for digital currency-related businesses. Silvergate Capital Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in La Jolla, California.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home improvement loans, and unsecured consumer loans, as well as secured consumer loans, such as automobile loans, boat loans, home equity loans, and loans secured by savings deposits. It also provides insurance and merchant banking services. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.