Reviewing Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) & Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN)

Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) and Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Dividends

Republic Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Republic Bancorp pays out 34.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colony Bankcorp pays out 34.1% 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. Republic Bancorp has raised its dividend for 27 consecutive years. Colony Bankcorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Republic Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Republic Bancorp	$378.96 million	3.31	$101.37 million	$5.23	12.32
Colony Bankcorp	$115.45 million	2.44	$23.87 million	$1.35	11.89

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Republic Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Republic Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Colony Bankcorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Republic Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $70.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.61%. Given Republic Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Republic Bancorp is more favorable than Colony Bankcorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.4% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by institutional investors. 55.5% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Republic Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Republic Bancorp	20.05%	10.60%	1.51%
Colony Bankcorp	13.51%	9.64%	0.85%

Volatility and Risk

Republic Bancorp has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Republic Bancorp beats Colony Bankcorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Republic Bancorp

Republic Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Republic Bank & Trust Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates in six segments: Traditional Banking, Warehouse, Mortgage Banking, Tax Refund Solutions, Republic Payment Solutions, and Republic Credit Solutions. The company offers demand, money market accounts, savings, individual retirement accounts, time, brokered, and other certificates of deposit; and retail and commercial mortgage, construction and land development, consumer, aircraft, and marine loans. It also provides credit cards; title insurance and other financial products and services; and private banking, lockbox processing, remote deposit capture, business online banking, account reconciliation, automated clearing house processing, and internet and mobile banking services. In addition, it offers short-term and revolving credit facilities to mortgage bankers through mortgage warehouse lines of credit; mortgage banking; tax refund solutions, which facilitate the receipt and payment of federal and state tax refund products through third-party tax preparers and tax-preparation software providers; payments-related products and services to consumers through third party service providers; and consumer credit products. The company offers its services through full-services banking centers in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee. Republic Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers internet banking services, electronic bill payment services, safe deposit box rentals, telephone banking, credit and debit card services, and remote depository products, as well as access to a network of ATMs. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.