Financial Survey: Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) versus Pioneer Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBFS)

Pioneer Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBFS) and Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Pioneer Bancorp and Bank OZK”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pioneer Bancorp	$31.81 million	11.53	$6.45 million	$0.80	18.29
Bank OZK	$2.77 billion	1.91	$716.46 million	$6.20	7.63

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

Profitability

This table compares Pioneer Bancorp and Bank OZK’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pioneer Bancorp	16.17%	6.38%	0.95%
Bank OZK	25.81%	13.00%	1.80%

Risk and Volatility

Pioneer Bancorp has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank OZK has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.2% of Bank OZK shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Pioneer Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of Bank OZK shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Pioneer Bancorp and Bank OZK, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pioneer Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Bank OZK	2	3	5	0	2.30

Bank OZK has a consensus target price of $58.75, suggesting a potential upside of 24.26%. Given Bank OZK’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Bank OZK is more favorable than Pioneer Bancorp.

Summary

Bank OZK beats Pioneer Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pioneer Bancorp

Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Pioneer Savings Bank that provides various banking products and services in New York. The company accepts various deposit products, such as demand, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts. Its loan products include commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, commercial construction, residential mortgage lending, consumer loans, and home equity lines of credit. The company also invests in the U.S. governmental securities, fixed rate collateralized mortgage obligations, mortgage-backed securities, fixed-rate investment grade bonds, and equity securities. In addition, the company offers personal and commercial insurance products, including homeowners, automobile, and comprehensive business insurance; employee benefit products and services, such as group health, dental, disability, and life insurance products, as well as defined contribution, defined benefit administration, and human resource management services; and wealth management services comprising investment advice, retirement income planning, estate planning, business succession, and employer retirement planning. The company was founded in 1889 and is based in Albany, New York. Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Pioneer Bancorp, MHC.

About Bank OZK

Bank OZK provides various retail and commercial banking services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers deposit services, including non-interest bearing checking, interest bearing transaction, business sweep, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other accounts, as well as time and reciprocal deposits. It also provides trust and wealth services, such as personal trusts, custodial accounts, investment management accounts, and retirement accounts, as well as corporate trust services, including trustee, paying agent and registered transfer agent services, and other related services. In addition, the company offers treasury management services comprising automated clearing house, wire transfer, transaction reporting, wholesale lockbox, remote deposit capture, automated credit line transfer, reconciliation, positive pay, commercial card, and other services, as well as zero balance and investment sweep accounts. Further, it provides real estate, consumer, small business, indirect recreational vehicle and marine, equipment, agricultural, commercial and industrial, government guaranteed, lines of credit, homebuilder, and affordable housing loans; lender and structured, business aviation, and subscription financing services; and mortgage and other lending products. Additionally, the company offers ATMs; telephone, online, and mobile banking services; credit and debit cards; safe deposit boxes; and other products and services. The company was formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks and changed its name to Bank OZK in July 2018. Bank OZK was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas.