Riverview Bancorp (NASDAQ:RVSB) vs. Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) Critical Contrast

Riverview Bancorp (NASDAQ:RVSB) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.6% of Riverview Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Riverview Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Riverview Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Riverview Bancorp pays out 34.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial pays out 163.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Riverview Bancorp and Flushing Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Riverview Bancorp	0	2	1	0	2.33
Flushing Financial	0	4	0	0	2.00

Riverview Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.58%. Flushing Financial has a consensus price target of $16.80, indicating a potential upside of 5.26%. Given Riverview Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Riverview Bancorp is more favorable than Flushing Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Riverview Bancorp and Flushing Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Riverview Bancorp	6.41%	2.99%	0.32%
Flushing Financial	3.86%	5.95%	0.48%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Riverview Bancorp and Flushing Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Riverview Bancorp	$73.22 million	1.56	$4.90 million	$0.23	24.04
Flushing Financial	$489.63 million	1.10	$18.88 million	$0.54	29.56

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

Volatility and Risk

Riverview Bancorp has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Flushing Financial beats Riverview Bancorp on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Riverview Bancorp

Riverview Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Riverview Bank that provides commercial banking services to small and medium size businesses, professionals, and wealth building individuals. It offers a range of deposit products, including demand deposits, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and retirement savings plans. The company also provides commercial business, commercial and residential real estate, multi-family real estate, land, real estate construction, and one-to-four family mortgage loans; other consumer loans, such as automobile, boat, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, savings account, and unsecured loans; and home equity lines of credit. In addition, it is involved in the provision of mortgage brokerage and mortgage loan servicing activities, as well as offers asset management services comprising trust, estate planning, and investment management. The company operates in Camas, Washougal, Stevenson, White Salmon, Battle Ground, Goldendale, Ridgefield, and Vancouver, Washington, as well as Portland, Gresham, Tualatin, and Aumsville, Oregon. Riverview Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is based in Vancouver, Washington.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.