Critical Contrast: Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) versus Bay National (OTCMKTS:BAYN)

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

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Amerant Bancorp and Bay National”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amerant Bancorp	$330.31 million	2.41	-$15.75 million	($0.20)	-95.10
Bay National	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Bay National has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Amerant Bancorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.8% of Bay National shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amerant Bancorp	-8.38%	6.36%	0.51%
Bay National	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Amerant Bancorp and Bay National, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amerant Bancorp	0	2	2	0	2.50
Bay National	0	0	0	0	0.00

Amerant Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $24.25, indicating a potential upside of 27.50%. Given Amerant Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Amerant Bancorp is more favorable than Bay National.

Risk & Volatility

Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bay National has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Amerant Bancorp beats Bay National on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It offers checking, savings, business, and money market accounts; cash management services; and certificates of deposits. The company also provides variable and fixed rate commercial real estate loans; owner-occupied; single-family residential; commercial; and consumer loans and overdrafts, such as automobile, personal, or loans secured by cash or securities and revolving credit card agreements. In addition, it offers trust and estate planning products and services to high-net-worth customers, brokerage and investment advisory services in global capital markets, and wealth management and fiduciary services. Further, the company provides debit and credit cards, night depositories, direct deposits, cashier's checks, safe deposit boxes, letters of credit, and treasury management services, including wire transfer, remote deposit capture, and automated clearinghouse services; derivative instruments; and online and mobile banking, account balances, statements and other documents, online transfers and bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements services, as well as automated teller machines, and banking by mobile devices, telephone, and mail. It operates banking centers in Florida and Texas. The company was formerly known as Mercantil Bank Holding Corporation and changed its name to Amerant Bancorp Inc. in June 2019. Amerant Bancorp Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.

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.