Reviewing Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP)

Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Home Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

49.4% of Home Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of Home Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Home Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Home Bancorp pays out 22.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania 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. Home Bancorp has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Home Bancorp and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Home Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	0	3	0	1	2.50

Home Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $65.17, suggesting a potential upside of 6.24%. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a consensus price target of $40.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.22%. Given Home Bancorp’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Home Bancorp is more favorable than Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania.

Profitability

This table compares Home Bancorp and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home Bancorp	21.05%	10.01%	1.25%
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	17.95%	9.93%	1.14%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Home Bancorp and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Home Bancorp	$156.11 million	3.08	$46.06 million	$5.67	10.82
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	$518.35 million	2.13	$90.76 million	$3.35	12.12

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

Summary

Home Bancorp beats Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides various loan products comprising one-to four-family first mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines, commercial real estate loans, construction and land loans, multi-family residential loans, commercial and industrial loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it invests in securities; and offers credit cards and online banking services. Home Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.

About Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co. that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations. Its Wealth Management segment provides investment advisory, financial planning, and trust and brokerage services for private families and individuals, municipal pension plans, retirement plans, and trusts and guardianships. The Insurance segment offers commercial property and casualty insurance, employee benefits solutions, personal insurance lines, and human resources consulting services. The company was formerly known as Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania and changed its name to Univest Financial Corporation in January 2019. The company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Souderton, Pennsylvania.