Contrasting Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) & U.S.A Bank (OTCMKTS:USBK)

Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) and U.S.A Bank (OTCMKTS:USBK) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

64.0% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 23.4% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Live Oak Bancshares has a beta of 2, suggesting that its stock price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U.S.A Bank has a beta of -24.99, suggesting that its stock price is 2,599% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Live Oak Bancshares and U.S.A Bank”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Live Oak Bancshares	$541.23 million	3.07	$77.47 million	$2.22	16.30
U.S.A Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Live Oak Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than U.S.A Bank.

Profitability

This table compares Live Oak Bancshares and U.S.A Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Live Oak Bancshares	7.10%	6.88%	0.55%
U.S.A Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Live Oak Bancshares and U.S.A Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Live Oak Bancshares	0	2	2	0	2.50
U.S.A Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

Live Oak Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $44.20, indicating a potential upside of 22.13%. Given Live Oak Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Live Oak Bancshares is more favorable than U.S.A Bank.

Summary

Live Oak Bancshares beats U.S.A Bank on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Live Oak Bancshares

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking and Fintech. The company accepts various deposit products, including noninterest-bearing demand, as well as interest-bearing checking, money market, savings, and time deposits. It also offers commercial and industrial loans; construction and development loans; owner occupied and non-owner occupied collateral commercial real estate loans; and commercial land loans. In addition, the company provides settlement, accounting, and securitization services for government guaranteed loans; financing for renewable energy application industry; wealth and investment management services to high-net-worth individuals and families; and investment advisory services to a series of funds focused on providing venture capital to new and emerging financial technology companies. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.

About U.S.A Bank

As of July 10, 2010, U.S.A Bank was acquired by Customers Bank (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania). U.S.A Bank operates as a community bank in New York. It offers deposit products, Internet banking, ATM cards, consumer loans, and residential and commercial loans. U.S.A Bank was founded in 2005 and is based in Port Chester, New York.