Northeast Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBN) & Hanover Bancorp (NASDAQ:HNVR) Head-To-Head Survey

Hanover Bancorp (NASDAQ:HNVR) and Northeast Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Hanover Bancorp and Northeast Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hanover Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00
Northeast Bancorp	0	1	2	0	2.67

Hanover Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $28.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.57%. Northeast Bancorp has a consensus price target of $143.50, suggesting a potential upside of 16.57%. Given Hanover Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hanover Bancorp is more favorable than Northeast Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

15.0% of Hanover Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 24.4% of Hanover Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of Northeast Bancorp shares are held by company 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.

Dividends

Hanover Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Northeast Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Hanover Bancorp pays out 31.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Northeast Bancorp pays out 0.3% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Hanover Bancorp and Northeast Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hanover Bancorp	6.71%	6.00%	0.50%
Northeast Bancorp	27.91%	19.35%	2.22%

Risk & Volatility

Hanover Bancorp has a beta of 0.11, suggesting that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northeast Bancorp has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hanover Bancorp and Northeast Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hanover Bancorp	$143.32 million	1.19	$7.49 million	$1.27	19.09
Northeast Bancorp	$385.07 million	2.62	$107.48 million	$12.72	9.68

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

Summary

Northeast Bancorp beats Hanover Bancorp on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hanover Bancorp

Hanover Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company for Hanover Community Bank, provides personal and business lending and deposit services to businesses, municipalities, and individuals in the New York metro area. The company offers checking, credit cards, debit cards, money market, savings, government and municipal banking, and professional services, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposit and individual retirement accounts. It also provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, small business administration, lending directory services, and residential mortgage. In addition, the company offers cash management, online and mobile banking, merchant services, and digital solutions. Its banking offices are located in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Kings, New York Counties, New York, Monmouth County, Freehold, and New Jersey. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mineola, New York.

About Northeast Bancorp

Northeast Bank provides banking services to individual and corporate customers in Maine. The company's deposit products include demand deposit, NOW, money market, savings, certificate of deposit, and individual retirement accounts, as well as checking accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises residential mortgage loans; multi-family and other commercial real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans, such as term loans, lines of credit and equipment, and receivables financing; consumer loans comprising mobile home and overdraft, and deposit-secured loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company offers telephone banking, online banking and bill payment, mobile banking, cash management, and remote deposit capture services, as well as debit and credit card, ATM, electronic transfer, and check services. Further, it provides various services, such as money market, merchant, and payroll and HR. Northeast Bank was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.