Suruga Bank (OTCMKTS:SUGBY) and First Savings Financial Group (NASDAQ:FSFG) Financial Review

Suruga Bank (OTCMKTS:SUGBY) and First Savings Financial Group (NASDAQ:FSFG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Suruga Bank and First Savings Financial Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Suruga Bank	$598.19 million	2.64	$133.17 million	$6.79	11.78
First Savings Financial Group	$134.52 million	1.54	$13.59 million	$3.09	9.60

Suruga Bank has higher revenue and earnings than First Savings Financial Group. First Savings Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Suruga Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Suruga Bank and First Savings Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Suruga Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
First Savings Financial Group	0	0	4	0	3.00

First Savings Financial Group has a consensus price target of $32.33, suggesting a potential upside of 9.05%. Given First Savings Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Savings Financial Group is more favorable than Suruga Bank.

Risk & Volatility

Suruga Bank has a beta of -0.08, indicating that its stock price is 108% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Savings Financial Group has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Suruga Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. First Savings Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Suruga Bank pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Savings Financial Group pays out 20.7% 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. First Savings Financial Group has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. First Savings Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Suruga Bank and First Savings Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Suruga Bank	19.87%	6.98%	0.60%
First Savings Financial Group	14.92%	10.60%	0.79%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

35.2% of First Savings Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.1% of First Savings Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

First Savings Financial Group beats Suruga Bank on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Suruga Bank

Suruga Bank Ltd. provides various banking and financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Japan. The company offers deposit products, such as time, ordinary, savings, foreign currency, and other deposits, as well as current and general accounts; card, housing, second house, startup, and business up term loans, as well as loans by purpose; credit and debit cards; overdrafts; and other financing products. It also provides investment trust, public bond, pension contribution, insurance, inheritance/trust, lottery, foreign currency, pay-easy, web direct, safe deposit box, external linkage, foreign remittance, fund management, e-combination, payment, nursing care/medical care/dispensing compensation receivable factoring, mortgage, and Internet and telephone banking services. In addition, the company offers staffing, money lending, guarantee, printing, leasing, and agency services. The company was incorporated in 1895 and is headquartered in Numazu, Japan.

About First Savings Financial Group

First Savings Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First Savings Bank that provides various financial services to consumers and businesses in southern Indiana. The company operates through three segments: Core Banking, SBA Lending, and Mortgage Banking. It accepts deposits, such as checking accounts, NOW and money market accounts, regular savings accounts, and time deposits. The company also provides loans, including one-to four-family residential real estate, commercial real estate, construction, land and land development, multi-family real estate, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans, such as automobile and truck loans, home equity lines of credit, home improvement loans, unsecured loans, boat and mobile home loans, loans secured by savings deposits, and other personal loans. In addition, it is involved in the mortgage banking; investment activities; and the provision of property and casualty insurance products, and reinsurance to other third-party insurance captives. First Savings Financial Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana.