Equity Bancshares (EQBK) versus Its Competitors Critical Analysis

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) is one of 20 public companies in the “State Commercial Banks – Fed Reserve System” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Equity Bancshares to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Equity Bancshares and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equity Bancshares	0	2	0	1	2.67
Equity Bancshares Competitors	29	163	196	18	2.50

As a group, “State Commercial Banks – Fed Reserve System” companies have a potential upside of 7.95%. Given Equity Bancshares’ peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Equity Bancshares has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Equity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Equity Bancshares pays out 60.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “State Commercial Banks – Fed Reserve System” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.3% and pay out 67.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Equity Bancshares and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Bancshares	5.01%	11.67%	1.33%
Equity Bancshares Competitors	7.23%	6.94%	0.79%

Risk & Volatility

Equity Bancshares has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Bancshares’ peers have a beta of 1.03, suggesting that their average share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Equity Bancshares and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equity Bancshares	$335.67 million	$62.62 million	37.25
Equity Bancshares Competitors	$826.72 million	$104.06 million	37.36

Equity Bancshares’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Equity Bancshares. Equity Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.8% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.2% of shares of all “State Commercial Banks – Fed Reserve System” companies are owned by institutional investors. 6.6% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of shares of all “State Commercial Banks – Fed Reserve System” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Equity Bancshares peers beat Equity Bancshares on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Equity Bancshares Company Profile

Equity Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate-backed, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products to national and regional companies, restaurant franchisees, hoteliers, real estate developers, manufacturing and industrial companies, agribusiness companies, and other businesses. The company’s loan products also comprise various consumer loans to individuals and professionals, including residential real estate loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, installment loans, unsecured and secured personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, and letters of credit. It also provides debit cards; online banking solutions, such as access to account balances, online transfers, online bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements; mobile banking solutions comprising remote check deposits with mobile bill pay; ATMs; and treasury management, wire transfer, automated clearing house, and stop payment services. In addition, the company offers cash management deposit products, such as lockbox, remote deposit capture, positive pay, reverse positive pay, account reconciliation services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts, as well as banking services through telephone, mail, and personal appointments. As of December 31, 2021, it operated a network of 69 branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.