Critical Review: Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI) & ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS)

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) and Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Dividends

ServisFirst Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Citizens Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. ServisFirst Bancshares pays out 30.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens Community Bancorp pays out 28.8% 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. ServisFirst Bancshares has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Citizens Community Bancorp has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Citizens Community Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.3% of ServisFirst Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.1% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 6.7% of ServisFirst Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares ServisFirst Bancshares and Citizens Community Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ServisFirst Bancshares	26.95%	16.36%	1.61%
Citizens Community Bancorp	14.60%	7.81%	0.82%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ServisFirst Bancshares and Citizens Community Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ServisFirst Bancshares	$1.02 billion	4.01	$276.60 million	$5.06	14.75
Citizens Community Bancorp	$98.77 million	1.91	$14.42 million	$1.46	13.39

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for ServisFirst Bancshares and Citizens Community Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ServisFirst Bancshares	0	1	2	2	3.20
Citizens Community Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50

ServisFirst Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $93.67, suggesting a potential upside of 25.53%. Given ServisFirst Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe ServisFirst Bancshares is more favorable than Citizens Community Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

ServisFirst Bancshares has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ServisFirst Bancshares beats Citizens Community Bancorp on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. It accepts demand, time, savings, and other deposits; checking, money market, and IRA accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products include commercial lending products, including seasonal, bridge, and term loans for working capital, expansion of the business, acquisition of property, and plant and equipment, as well as commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, vehicle financing, loans secured by deposits, and secured and unsecured personal loans. It also offers other banking products and services comprising telephone and mobile banking, Internet banking, direct deposit, traveler's checks, safe deposit boxes, attorney trust accounts, automatic account transfers, automated teller machines, and debit and credit card systems; treasury and cash management services; wire transfer, night depository, banking-by-mail, and remote capture services; and correspondent banking services to other financial institutions. In addition, the company holds and manages participations in residential mortgages and commercial real estate loans originated by ServisFirst Bank in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

About Citizens Community Bancorp

Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Community Federal N.A. that provides various traditional community banking services to businesses, agricultural operators, and consumers. It accepts various deposit products, including demand deposits, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also offers various loan products, such as commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural real estate, agricultural operating, and consumer loans; and one-to-four family residential mortgages and home equity lines-of-credit. In addition, it maintains a portfolio of investments comprising mortgage-backed, corporate asset-backed, U.S. Government sponsored agency, and corporate debt securities. Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.