Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) and Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) Critical Survey

Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) and Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

Chester Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 19.2%. Enterprise Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Enterprise Financial Services pays out 24.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Enterprise Financial Services has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Chester Bancorp and Enterprise Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chester Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Enterprise Financial Services	0	2	2	0	2.50

Enterprise Financial Services has a consensus target price of $66.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.07%. Given Enterprise Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Enterprise Financial Services is more favorable than Chester Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chester Bancorp and Enterprise Financial Services”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Enterprise Financial Services	$1.00 billion	2.26	$201.37 million	$5.31	11.50

Enterprise Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than Chester Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.2% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 38.8% of Chester Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Chester Bancorp and Enterprise Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Enterprise Financial Services	20.15%	10.74%	1.24%

Volatility and Risk

Chester Bancorp has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enterprise Financial Services has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Enterprise Financial Services beats Chester Bancorp on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chester Bancorp

Chester Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Chester National Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Chester, Illinois. It offers checking accounts, such as regular checking, student checking, golden checking, and club checking accounts; savings accounts, including statement savings, Christmas club, and money market accounts; and certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans comprising mortgage, construction, lot, home equity, consumer, and business loans; and reorder check services. It operates two full service offices in Sparta, Illinois; and Perryville, Missouri. Chester Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Chester, Illinois.

About Enterprise Financial Services

Enterprise Financial Services Corp operates as the holding company for Enterprise Bank & Trust that offers banking and wealth management services to individuals and corporate customers primarily in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico. It provides checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, real estate construction and development, residential real estate, small business administration, agricultural, consumer, and other loan products. In addition, it offers treasury management and international trade services; tax credit brokerage services; life insurance premium and sponsor finance; tax credit related lending; other deposit accounts, such as community associations, property management, third party escrow, and trust services; treasury management product and services; customized solutions and products; cash management; fiduciary, investment management, and financial advisory services; and customer hedging products, including international banking, card services, and tax credit businesses. Further, the company provides online, device applications, text, and voice banking; remote deposit capture; internet banking, mobile banking, cash management, positive pay services, fraud detection and prevention, automated payables, check image, and statement and document imaging; and controlled disbursements, repurchase agreements, and sweep investment accounts. Enterprise Financial Services Corp was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri.