Critical Survey: Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) & FFW (OTCMKTS:FFWC)

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) and FFW (OTCMKTS:FFWC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Great Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FFW has a beta of -0.12, meaning that its share price is 112% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Great Southern Bancorp and FFW, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Great Southern Bancorp	0	3	1	0	2.25
FFW	0	0	0	0	0.00

Great Southern Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $60.50, suggesting a potential downside of 6.11%. Given Great Southern Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Great Southern Bancorp is more favorable than FFW.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.7% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 27.9% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of FFW shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Great Southern Bancorp and FFW’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Great Southern Bancorp	20.70%	11.33%	1.22%
FFW	18.10%	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Great Southern Bancorp and FFW”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Great Southern Bancorp	$229.29 million	3.08	$70.97 million	$6.20	10.39
FFW	$32.63 million	1.63	$5.54 million	$5.51	8.85

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

Dividends

Great Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. FFW pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Great Southern Bancorp pays out 27.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FFW pays out 22.5% 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.

Summary

Great Southern Bancorp beats FFW on 15 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home improvement loans, and unsecured consumer loans, as well as secured consumer loans, such as automobile loans, boat loans, home equity loans, and loans secured by savings deposits. It also provides insurance and merchant banking services. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.

About FFW

FFW Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Crossroads Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company offers checking and savings accounts, overdraft protection, consumer credit cards, and reorder checks. Its loan products include home equity, auto, RV, boat, motorcycle, and personal loans; mortgage loans; agricultural loans; commercial real estate equipment financing; revolving lines of credit and standby letters of credit; and equipment leasing, as well as commercial lending services. The company offers insurance products, such as auto, home and property, business, life and health, and specialty insurance; investment products and securities; and digital banking services. FFW Corporation was founded in 1920 and is based in Wabash, Indiana.