Reviewing Suncrest Bank (OTCMKTS:SBKK) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB)

Suncrest Bank (OTCMKTS:SBKK) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Suncrest Bank and United Community Banks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Suncrest Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
United Community Banks	16.48%	8.64%	1.04%

Risk & Volatility

Suncrest Bank has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Suncrest Bank and United Community Banks, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Suncrest Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
United Community Banks	0	4	3	0	2.43

United Community Banks has a consensus target price of $34.57, suggesting a potential upside of 10.03%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Suncrest Bank.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Suncrest Bank and United Community Banks”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Suncrest Bank	$46.73 million	4.92	$16.96 million	$1.37	13.56
United Community Banks	$952.89 million	4.01	$252.40 million	$2.20	14.28

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than Suncrest Bank. Suncrest Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

5.9% of Suncrest Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

United Community Banks beats Suncrest Bank on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Suncrest Bank

Suncrest Bank engages in the provision of personal and commercial banking services. It provides checking, savings and certificates of deposits, lending, cash management, online and mobile banking, e-statements, remote deposit capture, financial calculators, and customer service center. It also offers agricultural real estate loans, production finance, equipment financing and leasing, development loans, long-term fixed rate, SBA and USDA loans, valley small business guaranteed loans, USDA B&I loans, farmer mac loans, and cal-cap loans. The company was founded on May 19, 2008 and is headquartered in Visalia, CA.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. The company also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, it originates loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, the company provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, it offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; treasury management; credit cards; payment and commerce solution, equipment finance, investment advisory, and other related financial services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.