Head to Head Survey: United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) & Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST)

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares United Community Banks and Catalyst Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$1.50 billion	2.41	$252.40 million	$2.52	11.82
Catalyst Bancorp	$10.02 million	5.54	-$3.09 million	$0.59	22.75

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

Risk & Volatility

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for United Community Banks and Catalyst Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	4	3	0	2.43
Catalyst Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

United Community Banks presently has a consensus price target of $35.33, suggesting a potential upside of 18.62%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Catalyst Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and Catalyst Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	20.67%	9.42%	1.17%
Catalyst Bancorp	14.42%	2.76%	0.81%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

United Community Banks beats Catalyst Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About Catalyst Bancorp

Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Catalyst Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and businesses in Louisiana. The company accepts various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand and NOW accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also offers single family residential first mortgage loans, commercial real estate mortgage loans, multi-family residential mortgage loans, commercial and industrial loans, construction and land loans, consumer loans, and other loans. In addition, the company invests in various types of securities comprising mortgage-backed securities, the U.S. treasury obligations, securities of various federal agencies and of state and municipal governments, certificates of deposit at federally insured banks and savings institutions, and federal funds. Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Opelousas, Louisiana.