Head to Head Analysis: Summit State Bank (NASDAQ:SSBI) and TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK)

Summit State Bank (NASDAQ:SSBI) and TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Summit State Bank and TriCo Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Summit State Bank	1	0	0	0	1.00
TriCo Bancshares	0	4	3	0	2.43

TriCo Bancshares has a consensus price target of $47.60, suggesting a potential upside of 12.50%. Given TriCo Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe TriCo Bancshares is more favorable than Summit State Bank.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Summit State Bank and TriCo Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Summit State Bank	$62.91 million	1.27	-$3.66 million	($0.16)	-73.90
TriCo Bancshares	$531.04 million	2.59	$114.87 million	$3.40	12.44

TriCo Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Summit State Bank. Summit State Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TriCo Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Summit State Bank has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TriCo Bancshares has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Summit State Bank and TriCo Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Summit State Bank	-1.70%	N/A	N/A
TriCo Bancshares	21.11%	8.99%	1.14%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

59.1% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.8% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

TriCo Bancshares beats Summit State Bank on 14 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Summit State Bank

Summit State Bank engages in providing an array of financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, their owners and employees, entrepreneurs, high net worth families, foundations, estates, and individual consumers. It specializes in business services, personal accounts, nonprofit programs, and mobile banking ranging from lending, checking, merchant, eBanking, automated teller machines, equity loans, and others. The company was founded on December 20, 1982 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA.

About TriCo Bancshares

TriCo Bancshares operates as a bank holding company for Tri Counties Bank that provides commercial banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides small business loans; real estate mortgage loans, such as residential and commercial loans; consumer loans; mortgage, auto, other vehicle, and personal loans; commercial loans, including agricultural loans; and real estate construction loans. In addition, the company offers treasury management services; credit and debit cards; and other customary banking services, including safe deposit boxes; and independent financial and broker-dealer services. Further, it provides checking, saving, and money market accounts, as well as individual retirement accounts; equipment financing; certificate of deposit account registry service; certificated of deposit; and IntraFi cash service. TriCo Bancshares was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Chico, California.