Chiba Bank (OTCMKTS:CHBAY) & First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) Head-To-Head Analysis

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) and Chiba Bank (OTCMKTS:CHBAY) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for First Bancorp and Chiba Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Bancorp	0	3	2	1	2.67
Chiba Bank	0	0	0	1	4.00

First Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $68.94, indicating a potential upside of 7.64%. Given First Bancorp’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe First Bancorp is more favorable than Chiba Bank.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares First Bancorp and Chiba Bank”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Bancorp	$549.30 million	4.82	$111.05 million	$3.22	19.89
Chiba Bank	$2.96 billion	4.73	$620.82 million	$4.72	19.12

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

68.4% of First Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of First Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

First Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Chiba Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. First Bancorp pays out 29.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chiba Bank pays out 26.1% 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 First Bancorp and Chiba Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Bancorp	22.12%	11.31%	1.46%
Chiba Bank	20.96%	8.25%	0.49%

Risk & Volatility

First Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chiba Bank has a beta of 0.1, suggesting that its share price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Bancorp beats Chiba Bank on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. The company accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. It also offers loans for a range of consumer and commercial purposes comprising loans for business, real estate, personal, home improvement, and automobiles, as well as residential mortgages and small business administration loans; and accounts receivable financing and factoring, inventory financing, and purchase order financing services. In addition, the company provides credit and debit cards, letter of credits, and safe deposit box rental services, as well as electronic funds transfer services consisting of wire transfers; and internet and mobile banking, cash management, bank-by-phone services, and remote deposit capture services. Further, it offers investment and insurance products, such as mutual funds, annuities, long-term care insurance, life insurance, and company retirement plans, as well as property and casualty insurance products; and financial planning services. The company was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

About Chiba Bank

The Chiba Bank, Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services in Japan and internationally. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, time deposits, currency deposits, investment trusts, bonds, and pensions; loans, which include mortgages, renovation loans, photovoltaic, vehicle, education, and other loan products; and insurance products, such as annuity, life, medical, student, death, and travel insurance. It also offers debit and credit cards, as well as internet banking services. In addition, the company engages in securities, investment management and advisory, software development, commissioned computation tasks, research and investigation of IT and financial technologies, leasing, operation, and management of investment funds, mergers and acquisition advisory, credit guarantee businesses, management and collection of claims businesses. Further, it provides loan guarantees and fee collection services; accounting, general administration entrustment, and temporary staff services; and is involved in outsourcing of operational business. Additionally, it rents and maintains office buildings and welfare facilities; provides research, survey, and consulting services; purchases and sells supplies and consumer goods; and engages in renewable energy generation. The company serves individuals and corporations. The Chiba Bank, Ltd. was incorporated in 1943 and is headquartered in Chiba City, Japan.