Reviewing Bay National (OTCMKTS:BAYN) and Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL)

Bay National (OTCMKTS:BAYN) and Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Bay National has a beta of 1.56, meaning that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern California Bancorp has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bay National and Southern California Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bay National	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southern California Bancorp	2.94%	8.97%	1.09%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

55.4% of Southern California Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Bay National shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of Southern California Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bay National and Southern California Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bay National	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southern California Bancorp	$150.68 million	3.10	$5.43 million	$0.45	32.00

Southern California Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Bay National.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Bay National and Southern California Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bay National	0	0	0	0	0.00
Southern California Bancorp	0	0	2	0	3.00

Southern California Bancorp has a consensus price target of $19.50, indicating a potential upside of 35.42%. Given Southern California Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Southern California Bancorp is more favorable than Bay National.

Summary

Southern California Bancorp beats Bay National on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bay National

Bay National Corp. operates as a bank holding company. It offers loans, deposits, investments and other banking and financial services through its subsidiary, Bay National Bank. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Lutherville, MD.

About Southern California Bancorp

Southern California Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A. that provides various financial products to individuals, professionals, and small-to medium-sized businesses. The company offers checking, personal and business savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides home equity lines of credit, business loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate and construction loans, small business administration loans, letters of credit, and personal and business credit cards. In addition, the company provides cash vault, sweep accounts, and remote deposit capture services; online and mobile banking services; courier service; lockbox services; and merchant services. It operates branches in San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties, as well as the Inland Empire. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.