Critical Review: Mission Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MVLY) & BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF)

Mission Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MVLY) and BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Mission Valley Bancorp and BancFirst’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mission Valley Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
BancFirst	25.13%	13.93%	1.71%

Volatility & Risk

Mission Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.2, indicating that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BancFirst has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mission Valley Bancorp and BancFirst”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mission Valley Bancorp	N/A	N/A	$8.00 million	$2.39	7.32
BancFirst	$200.14 million	19.40	$240.61 million	$7.12	16.36

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

5.7% of Mission Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.7% of BancFirst shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.4% of BancFirst shares are owned by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Mission Valley Bancorp and BancFirst, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mission Valley Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
BancFirst	0	3	1	0	2.25

BancFirst has a consensus price target of $129.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.19%. Given BancFirst’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe BancFirst is more favorable than Mission Valley Bancorp.

Dividends

Mission Valley Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Mission Valley Bancorp pays out 6.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BancFirst pays out 27.5% 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. BancFirst has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. BancFirst is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

BancFirst beats Mission Valley Bancorp on 15 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mission Valley Bancorp

Mission Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Mission Valley Bank and Mission SBA Loan Servicing LLC that provides various banking products and services to individuals and corporate customers. The company's deposit products include non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand deposits, savings, and time deposits; and certificates of deposit. It also offers accounts receivable loans, advanced restaurant financing loans, commercial loans, real estate loans, small business administration loans, and term loans; consumer loans; and overdraft facilities; as well as credit and debit cards. In addition, the company provides lending services, such as underwriting, processing, closing, servicing, and referral/replacement services to other financial institutions. Mission Valley Bancorp was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Sun Valley, California.

About BancFirst

BancFirst Corporation operates as the bank holding company for BancFirst that provides a range of commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company operates through BancFirst Metropolitan Banks, BancFirst Community Banks, Pegasus, Worthington, and Other Financial Services segments. It offers checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, sweep accounts, club accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as overdraft protection and auto draft services. The company also provides commercial and agricultural non-real estate loans for working capital, facilities acquisition or expansion, purchase of equipment, and other needs; lending services that include private banking, energy, commercial and residential real estate, and commercial and industrial loans; and loans to finance purchases of consumer goods, such as automobiles, boats, household goods, vacations, and education. In addition, it engages in the investment management and administration of trusts for individuals, corporations, and employee benefit plans, as well as bond trustee and paying agent business for various Oklahoma municipalities and governmental entities; and provision of item processing, research, and other correspondent banking services to financial institutions and governmental units. Further, the company provides insurance agency services; depository and funds transfer, collection, safe deposit box, cash management, and other services. It serves customers in non-metropolitan trade centers and cities in the metropolitan statistical areas of Oklahoma. The company was formerly known as United Community Corporation and changed its name to BancFirst Corporation in November 1988. BancFirst Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.