Bank of South Carolina (NASDAQ:BKSC) and West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC) Critical Comparison

Dividends

Bank of South Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. West Coast Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Bank of South Carolina pays out 63.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. West Coast Community Bancorp pays out 23.6% 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bank of South Carolina and West Coast Community Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank of South Carolina	$21.16 million	4.05	$6.75 million	$1.45	10.99
West Coast Community Bancorp	$123.69 million	4.11	$29.58 million	$3.39	14.16

West Coast Community Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of South Carolina. Bank of South Carolina is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Coast Community Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Bank of South Carolina and West Coast Community Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank of South Carolina	23.42%	13.59%	1.14%
West Coast Community Bancorp	23.91%	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Bank of South Carolina has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, West Coast Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.2% of Bank of South Carolina shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.7% of West Coast Community Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.8% of Bank of South Carolina shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

West Coast Community Bancorp beats Bank of South Carolina on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank of South Carolina

Bank of South Carolina Corporation operates as a bank holding company for The Bank of South Carolina that provides a range of financial products and services primarily in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties of South Carolina. Its deposits include non-interest-bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, money market accounts, time deposits, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company offers secured and unsecured commercial loans, commercial real estate construction loans, consumer construction loans, home equity lines of credit, and mortgage originations, as well as paycheck protection program loans. It operates five banking house locations. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina.

About West Coast Community Bancorp

West Coast Community Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Santa Cruz County Bank that provides a range of commercial and personal banking services to residents and businesses in the United States. It offers checking, savings, money market, certificate of deposits, and health savings accounts; and individual retirement account and retirement plans. The company also provides lending products, including real estate commercial property, construction, asset-based, lines of credit, SBA loans, 504 loan program, business and industry, farm services agency, agricultural, and wine industry lending. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, merchant services, online and mobile banking, remote deposit services, wire and ACH manager, treasury management, payment, and cash management services. West Coast Community Bancorp was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.