Critical Survey: Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) & NASB Financial (OTCMKTS:NASB)

NASB Financial (OTCMKTS:NASB) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 47.0% of NASB Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

NASB Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. NASB Financial pays out 37.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial pays out -73.9% 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. Flushing Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares NASB Financial and Flushing Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NASB Financial	15.19%	6.42%	0.91%
Flushing Financial	-6.93%	4.98%	0.40%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for NASB Financial and Flushing Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NASB Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Flushing Financial	1	0	0	1	2.50

Risk and Volatility

NASB Financial has a beta of 0.07, suggesting that its share price is 93% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NASB Financial and Flushing Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NASB Financial	$168.58 million	1.54	$28.26 million	$3.70	9.73
Flushing Financial	$160.34 million	3.29	-$31.33 million	($1.19)	-13.13

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

Summary

NASB Financial beats Flushing Financial on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NASB Financial

NASB Financial, Inc. operates as a unitary thrift holding company for North American Savings Bank, F.S.B. that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts. It also mortgages and refinancing products, including conventional, veterans administration, federal housing administration, jumbo, and IRA residential real-estate loans. In addition, the company provides commercial real estate development and commercial loans, such as multifamily, retail, single-tenant, multi-tenant, office, industrial, and other loans; investment property loans; and construction and development loans. The company was founded in 1927 and is based in Grandview, Missouri.

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.