Contrasting FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) and First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB)

FS Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBW) and First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

FS Bancorp has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Republic Bank has a beta of 2.39, suggesting that its stock price is 139% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for FS Bancorp and First Republic Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FS Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50
First Republic Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

FS Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $46.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.74%. Given FS Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe FS Bancorp is more favorable than First Republic Bank.

Dividends

FS Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Republic Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 154,285.7%. FS Bancorp pays out 27.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Republic Bank pays out 87.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. FS Bancorp has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.9% of FS Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of First Republic Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 12.7% of FS Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of First Republic Bank shares are held by company 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares FS Bancorp and First Republic Bank”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FS Bancorp	$219.52 million	1.37	$33.35 million	$4.28	9.37
First Republic Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.23	0.00

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

Profitability

This table compares FS Bancorp and First Republic Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FS Bancorp	15.19%	11.08%	1.05%
First Republic Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

FS Bancorp beats First Republic Bank on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FS Bancorp

FS Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for 1st Security Bank of Washington that provides banking and financial services to local families, local and regional businesses, and industry niches. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Consumer Banking; and Home Lending. It offers various deposit instruments, including checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company provides one-to-four-family residential first mortgages, second mortgage/home equity loan products, non-mortgage commercial business loans, commercial real estate loans, and construction and development loans, as well as consumer loans, which primarily include personal lines of credit, credit cards, automobile, direct home improvement, loans on deposit, and recreational loans. It operates full bank service branches and home loan production offices in suburban communities in the greater Puget Sound area, including Snohomish, King, Pierce, Jefferson, Kitsap, Clallam, Grays Harbor, and Thurston counties; and a loan production office in the market area of the Tri-Cities. FS Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

About First Republic Bank

As of May 1, 2023, First Republic Bank went out of business. Previously, First Republic Bank provided private banking, private business banking, and private wealth management services to clients in metropolitan areas in the United States. The company was founded in 1985 and was headquartered in San Francisco, California. First Republic Bank now trades on OTCPK.