Reviewing First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC)

First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Volatility and Risk

First Northwest Bancorp has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares First Northwest Bancorp and Plumas Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Northwest Bancorp	4.20%	3.14%	0.23%
Plumas Bancorp	26.67%	15.16%	1.76%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for First Northwest Bancorp and Plumas Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Northwest Bancorp	1	2	1	0	2.00
Plumas Bancorp	0	0	4	0	3.00

First Northwest Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 40.63%. Plumas Bancorp has a consensus price target of $57.67, suggesting a potential upside of 9.51%. Given First Northwest Bancorp’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Northwest Bancorp is more favorable than Plumas Bancorp.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First Northwest Bancorp and Plumas Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Northwest Bancorp	$118.64 million	0.77	-$4.19 million	$0.55	17.45
Plumas Bancorp	$112.17 million	3.27	$29.62 million	$4.72	11.16

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Plumas Bancorp beats First Northwest Bancorp on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Northwest Bancorp

First Northwest Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for First Fed Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in western Washington, the United States. The company accepts various deposit instruments, including checking, money market deposit, savings, and transaction accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also originates one- to four-family mortgage loans, commercial and multi-family real estate loans, construction and land loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans primarily consisting of automobile loans, and home-equity loans and lines of credit. First Northwest Bancorp operates branch offices in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, Washington. First Northwest Bancorp was founded in 1923 and is based in Port Angeles, Washington.

About Plumas Bancorp

Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.