Financial Survey: Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) vs. Patriot National Bancorp (NASDAQ:PNBK)

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) and Patriot National Bancorp (NASDAQ:PNBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Mercantile Bank and Patriot National Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mercantile Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
Patriot National Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.6% of Mercantile Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.3% of Patriot National Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Mercantile Bank shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of Patriot National Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Mercantile Bank and Patriot National Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mercantile Bank	0	3	3	0	2.50
Patriot National Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00

Mercantile Bank presently has a consensus target price of $62.20, suggesting a potential upside of 2.50%. Given Mercantile Bank’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mercantile Bank is more favorable than Patriot National Bancorp.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mercantile Bank and Patriot National Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mercantile Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	$5.61	10.82
Patriot National Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.07)	-11.84

Patriot National Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mercantile Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Mercantile Bank beats Patriot National Bancorp on 5 of the 6 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mercantile Bank

Mercantile Bank Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Mercantile Bank of Michigan that provides commercial and retail banking services to small- to medium-sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and term certificate accounts; time deposits; and certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans; vacant land, land development, and residential construction loans; owner and non-owner occupied real estate loans; multi-family and residential rental property loans; single-family residential real estate loans; home equity line of credit programs; and consumer loans, such as new and used automobile and boat loans, and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services; and residential mortgage and instalment loans. In addition, it offers courier services and safe deposit facilities; and insurance products, such as private passenger automobile, homeowners, personal inland marine, boat owners, recreational vehicle, dwelling fire, umbrella policies, small business, and life insurance products. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

About Patriot National Bancorp

Patriot National Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Patriot Bank, N.A. that provides community banking services to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, and professionals. The company accepts consumer and commercial deposit accounts, such as checking, interest-bearing negotiable order of withdrawal, money market, time certificates of deposit, savings, prepaid deposit, on-line national money market, individual retirement accounts, and health savings accounts, as well as certificate of deposit account registry service. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate, commercial business, small business administration, construction, purchased residential real estate, and various consumer loans. The company also offers automated clearing house transfers, lockbox, internet banking, bill payment, remote deposit capture, debit card, money order, traveler's check, and automatic teller machine services. Patriot National Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.