Critical Analysis: Blue Ridge Bankshares (NASDAQ:BRBS) & Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Blue Ridge Bankshares (NASDAQ:BRBS) and Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Blue Ridge Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.49 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.4%. Equity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Blue Ridge Bankshares pays out -2,450.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equity Bancshares pays out 14.9% 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. Blue Ridge Bankshares has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Equity Bancshares has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Blue Ridge Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Blue Ridge Bankshares has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Bancshares has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.5% of Blue Ridge Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Blue Ridge Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Blue Ridge Bankshares and Equity Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blue Ridge Bankshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Equity Bancshares	0	3	3	0	2.50

Equity Bancshares has a consensus price target of $47.80, suggesting a potential upside of 19.90%. Given Equity Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Equity Bancshares is more favorable than Blue Ridge Bankshares.

Profitability

This table compares Blue Ridge Bankshares and Equity Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blue Ridge Bankshares	-8.84%	-5.48%	-0.52%
Equity Bancshares	18.66%	14.64%	1.31%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Blue Ridge Bankshares and Equity Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blue Ridge Bankshares	$88.89 million	3.79	-$15.39 million	($0.02)	-183.00
Equity Bancshares	$228.94 million	3.35	$62.62 million	$4.03	9.89

Equity Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Blue Ridge Bankshares. Blue Ridge Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Equity Bancshares beats Blue Ridge Bankshares on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blue Ridge Bankshares

Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Blue Ridge Bank, National Association that provides commercial and consumer banking, and financial services. It operates through: Commercial Banking and Mortgage Banking segments. The company accepts checking, savings, money market, cash management, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial and industrial, residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, home equity, consumer installment, and guaranteed government loans; and residential mortgage loans and mortgages loans on real estate. In addition, it provides wire, direct deposit payroll, remote deposit, electronic statement, and other services; and property and casualty insurance products to individuals and businesses, as well as online, mobile, and telephone banking services. Further, the company offers employee benefit plans and administration services; management services for personal and corporate trusts, including estate planning and settlement, and trust administration, investment and wealth management services. It operates in Callao, Charlottesville, Chester, Colonial Heights, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Gordonsville, Harrisonburg, Hartfield, Henrico, Kilmarnock, Louisa, Luray, Martinsville, Midlothian, Mineral, Montross, Orange, Petersburg, Richmond, Shenandoah, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Warsaw, and White Stone, Virginia; and Greensboro, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment and aircraft financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products. The company's loan products also comprise 1 4 family residential mortgages, agriculture, consumer, residential real estate mortgage, and agricultural real estate and production loans. It also provides debit and credit cards; insurance brokerage; trust and wealth management; online banking solutions, such as access to account balances, online transfers, online bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements; mobile banking solutions comprising remote check deposits with mobile bill pay; ATMs; and treasury management, wire transfer, automated clearing house, and stop payment services. In addition, the company offers cash management deposit products, such as lockbox, remote deposit capture, positive pay, reverse positive pay, account reconciliation services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts, as well as banking services through telephone, mail, and personal appointments. It operates a network of branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Equity Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.