Reviewing Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) and Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST)

Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) and Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Catalyst Bancorp and Chesapeake Financial Shares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Catalyst Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Chesapeake Financial Shares	0	0	0	0	0.00

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Catalyst Bancorp and Chesapeake Financial Shares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Catalyst Bancorp	$23.69 million	2.88	$2.05 million	$0.56	29.62
Chesapeake Financial Shares	$102.27 million	1.50	$10.00 million	$2.13	15.26

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are held by institutional investors. 8.2% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.5% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Financial Shares has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Catalyst Bancorp and Chesapeake Financial Shares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Catalyst Bancorp	13.26%	2.53%	0.74%
Chesapeake Financial Shares	9.78%	14.64%	1.07%

Summary

Chesapeake Financial Shares beats Catalyst Bancorp on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Catalyst Bancorp

Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Catalyst Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and businesses in Louisiana. The company accepts various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand and NOW accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also offers single family residential first mortgage loans, commercial real estate mortgage loans, multi-family residential mortgage loans, commercial and industrial loans, construction and land loans, consumer loans, and other loans. In addition, the company invests in various types of securities comprising mortgage-backed securities, the U.S. treasury obligations, securities of various federal agencies and of state and municipal governments, certificates of deposit at federally insured banks and savings institutions, and federal funds. Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Opelousas, Louisiana.

About Chesapeake Financial Shares

Chesapeake Financial Shares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Chesapeake Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts interest and noninterest checking, savings, and money market accounts; and variable-rate and fixed-term money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers mortgage, and single-family residential and residential construction loans; commercial loans, which include owner-occupied commercial development, retail, builders/contractors, medical, service and professional, hospitality, nonprofits, marine industry, and agricultural and seafood loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company provides merchant processing, accounts receivable financing, wealth management and trust, and mortgage banking services, as well as cash management services. The company was founded in 1900 and is based in Kilmarnock, Virginia.