First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) & AMB Financial (OTCMKTS:AMFC) Critical Analysis

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) and AMB Financial (OTCMKTS:AMFC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.5% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of AMB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 46.4% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 37.7% of AMB Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

First Guaranty Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. AMB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. First Guaranty Bancshares pays out 103.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Risk & Volatility

First Guaranty Bancshares has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AMB Financial has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for First Guaranty Bancshares and AMB Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Guaranty Bancshares	1	0	0	0	1.00
AMB Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A

First Guaranty Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $11.25, suggesting a potential upside of 0.18%. Given First Guaranty Bancshares’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe First Guaranty Bancshares is more favorable than AMB Financial.

Profitability

This table compares First Guaranty Bancshares and AMB Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Guaranty Bancshares	4.46%	4.19%	0.26%
AMB Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Guaranty Bancshares and AMB Financial’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Guaranty Bancshares	$193.59 million	0.73	$9.22 million	$0.62	18.11
AMB Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

First Guaranty Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than AMB Financial.

Summary

First Guaranty Bancshares beats AMB Financial on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First Guaranty Bank that provides commercial banking services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products, including personal and business checking, savings, money market, and demand accounts, as well as time deposits to consumers, small businesses, and municipalities. The company provides loans, such as non-farm, non-residential loans secured by real estate, commercial and industrial loans, one- to four-family residential loans, multifamily loans, construction and land development loans, agricultural loans, farmland loans, and consumer and other loans to small to medium-sized businesses and professionals, and individuals. In addition, it offers a range of consumer services, including credit cards, mobile deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, official checks, online and mobile banking, automated teller machines, and online bill pay; provides additional solutions, such as merchant services, remote deposit capture, and lockbox services to business customers; and invests a portion of its assets in securities issued by the United States Government and its agencies, state and municipal obligations, corporate debt securities, mutual funds, and equity securities, as well as invests in mortgage-backed securities primarily issued or guaranteed by United States Government agencies or enterprises. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Hammond, Louisiana.

About AMB Financial

AMB Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for American Community Bank of Indiana that provides financial services to customers primarily located within northwest Indiana. It provides savings, checking, individual retirement, and money market deposit accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company also offers mortgage loans; construction loans; lot loans; home equity line of credit and loans; and vehicle loans for motorcycles, wave runners, snowmobiles, motor homes, campers/travel trailers, and boats and boat trailers. In addition, it provides merchant, remote deposit, receivables financing, and ACH banking services; online, mobile, voice, and youth banking services; investment, estate, business, and personal financial planning services; debit/ATM and credit cards; money order and e-statement services; cashier's checks; health savings account; and safe deposit boxes. The company provides its products and services through its main office in Indiana, as well as through its four full-service banking offices located in Munster, Dyer, Hammond, and Crown Point, Indiana. AMB Financial Corp. was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Saint John, Indiana.