First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) versus Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Financial Comparison

First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) and Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.4% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by company 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for First Northwest Bancorp and Sierra Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Northwest Bancorp	1	2	1	0	2.00
Sierra Bancorp	0	2	2	0	2.50

First Northwest Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 29.43%. Sierra Bancorp has a consensus target price of $34.50, suggesting a potential downside of 2.57%. Given First Northwest Bancorp’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe First Northwest Bancorp is more favorable than Sierra Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

First Northwest Bancorp has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Bancorp has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares First Northwest Bancorp and Sierra Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Northwest Bancorp	5.35%	4.23%	0.29%
Sierra Bancorp	19.70%	11.17%	1.08%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Northwest Bancorp and Sierra Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Northwest Bancorp	$118.64 million	0.83	-$6.61 million	$0.36	28.97
Sierra Bancorp	$203.87 million	2.31	$40.56 million	$2.87	12.34

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

Summary

Sierra Bancorp beats First Northwest Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Northwest Bancorp

First Northwest Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for First Fed Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in western Washington, the United States. The company accepts various deposit instruments, including checking, money market deposit, savings, and transaction accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also originates one- to four-family mortgage loans, commercial and multi-family real estate loans, construction and land loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans primarily consisting of automobile loans, and home-equity loans and lines of credit. First Northwest Bancorp operates branch offices in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, Washington. First Northwest Bancorp was founded in 1923 and is based in Port Angeles, Washington.

About Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the Sierra that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in California. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market demand accounts, time deposits, retirement accounts, and sweep accounts. The company's loan products include agricultural, commercial, consumer, real estate, construction, and mortgage loans. It also offers automated teller machines; electronic point-of-sale payment alternatives; online and automated telephone banking services; and remote deposit capture and automated payroll services for business customers. Sierra Bancorp was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Porterville, California.