First Niles Financial (OTCMKTS:FNFI) vs. Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) Financial Survey

First Niles Financial (OTCMKTS:FNFI) and Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for First Niles Financial and Provident Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Niles Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Provident Financial	0	3	0	0	2.00

Provident Financial has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.60%. Given Provident Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Provident Financial is more favorable than First Niles Financial.

Volatility and Risk

First Niles Financial has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Provident Financial has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares First Niles Financial and Provident Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Niles Financial	$14.03 million	0.88	$840,000.00	$0.31	25.81
Provident Financial	$60.15 million	1.72	$6.26 million	$0.99	16.42

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.3% of Provident Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.4% of First Niles Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of Provident Financial shares are owned 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.

Dividends

First Niles Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Provident Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Niles Financial pays out 77.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Provident Financial pays out 56.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Provident Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares First Niles Financial and Provident Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Niles Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A
Provident Financial	10.97%	5.14%	0.53%

Summary

Provident Financial beats First Niles Financial on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Niles Financial

First Niles Financial, Inc. operates as a holding company for the Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles that provides various banking products and services in Ohio, the United States. The company offers personal and business checking and savings, money market deposit, and Christmas club accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides various loans, including mortgage and consumer loans, home equity lines of credit, and commercial loans and lines of credit. In addition, the company provides e-statement, and night depository services; debit and ATM cards; safe deposit boxes; direct deposits; I.R.A. certificates of deposit and savings accounts; and online banking services. First Niles Financial, Inc. was founded in 1897 and is based in Niles, Ohio.

About Provident Financial

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. operates as the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, F.S.B. that provides community banking services to consumers and small to mid-sized businesses in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits; and loan portfolio consists of single-family, multi-family, commercial real estate, construction, mortgage, commercial business, and consumer loans. It also offers investment services comprising the sale of investment products, such as annuities and mutual funds; and trustee services for real estate transactions. The company operates through full-service banking offices in Riverside County and San Bernardino County. Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Riverside, California.