Financial Analysis: Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL) versus Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC)

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.1% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.6% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Flushing Financial and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flushing Financial	-7.13%	4.45%	0.35%
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	11.98%	7.13%	0.63%

Dividends

Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Flushing Financial pays out -73.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays out 42.9% 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. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Flushing Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Flushing Financial and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flushing Financial	1	1	0	0	1.50
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	0	1	0	0	2.00

Risk & Volatility

Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Flushing Financial and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flushing Financial	$484.72 million	0.96	-$31.33 million	($1.19)	-11.56
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	$32.47 million	1.31	$3.89 million	$1.26	11.03

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Flushing Financial. Flushing Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana beats Flushing Financial on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.

About Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank that provides various financial services to individuals, corporate entities, and other organizations. The company accepts various deposits, such as passbook savings, certificates of deposit, and demand deposit accounts. Its loan products include one-to-four family residential real estate loans; commercial real estate secured loans; multi-family residential loans; commercial business loans; land loans; construction loans; home equity and second mortgage loans; lines of credit; and consumer non-real estate loans, including loans secured by deposit accounts, automobile loans, overdrafts, and other unsecured loans. The company operates through branches in Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, and Benton, Louisiana. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Shreveport, Louisiana.