Analyzing Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) & Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY)

Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) and Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Southern Missouri Bancorp and Kearny Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern Missouri Bancorp	$305.35 million	2.08	$58.58 million	$5.18	10.86
Kearny Financial	$343.53 million	1.24	$26.08 million	$0.42	15.64

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

Profitability

This table compares Southern Missouri Bancorp and Kearny Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern Missouri Bancorp	19.17%	11.35%	1.20%
Kearny Financial	7.59%	3.49%	0.34%

Volatility and Risk

Southern Missouri Bancorp has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kearny Financial has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Southern Missouri Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Kearny Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Southern Missouri Bancorp pays out 19.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kearny Financial pays out 104.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southern Missouri Bancorp has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Southern Missouri Bancorp and Kearny Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern Missouri Bancorp	0	2	1	0	2.33
Kearny Financial	0	1	1	0	2.50

Southern Missouri Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $64.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.98%. Kearny Financial has a consensus target price of $7.75, indicating a potential upside of 17.96%. Given Kearny Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kearny Financial is more favorable than Southern Missouri Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.5% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Kearny Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.6% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of Kearny Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Southern Missouri Bancorp beats Kearny Financial on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern Bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the United States. The company offers deposits products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, saving accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement savings plans, and money market deposit accounts. It also provides loans, such as residential mortgage, commercial real estate, construction, and commercial business loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity, direct and indirect automobile loans, second mortgages, mobile home loans, and loans secured by deposits. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment management services; commercial and consumer insurance; online and mobile banking services; and debit or credit cards. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

About Kearny Financial

Kearny Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Kearny Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It offers various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides various loans, such as multi-family and nonresidential real estate mortgage loans, commercial term loans and lines of credit, one- to four-family residential mortgage loans, and home equity loans and lines of credit; loans to individuals, builders, or developers for the construction of multi-family residential buildings or commercial real estate, or for the construction or renovation of one- to four-family residences; overdraft lines of credit; and personal loans. In addition, it engages in the investment activities. Kearny Financial Corp. was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Fairfield, New Jersey.