Critical Review: Pacific Alliance Bank (OTCMKTS:PFBN) versus California BanCorp (NASDAQ:BCAL)

California BanCorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) and Pacific Alliance Bank (OTCMKTS:PFBN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares California BanCorp and Pacific Alliance Bank”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California BanCorp	$184.56 million	2.98	$5.43 million	$0.87	19.46
Pacific Alliance Bank	$23.57 million	1.19	$1.43 million	N/A	N/A

California BanCorp has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Alliance Bank.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for California BanCorp and Pacific Alliance Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California BanCorp	0	0	1	1	3.50
Pacific Alliance Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

California BanCorp presently has a consensus target price of $19.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.18%. Given California BanCorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe California BanCorp is more favorable than Pacific Alliance Bank.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.4% of California BanCorp shares are held by institutional investors. 14.8% of California BanCorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares California BanCorp and Pacific Alliance Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California BanCorp	13.20%	10.97%	1.40%
Pacific Alliance Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

California BanCorp has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Alliance Bank has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

California BanCorp beats Pacific Alliance Bank on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About 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.

About Pacific Alliance Bank

Pacific Alliance Bank provides commercial and consumer banking products and services for small to midsize business owners, and employees in the United States. It offers checking, money market, savings, and individual retirement accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage, commercial, term, commercial real estate, construction, and SBA loans; and lines of credit. In addition, it offers personal and business online services; and casher checks, check reorder, night deposit, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, positive pay/check reconciliation, wire, debit card, and other services. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in San Gabriel, California.