Reviewing SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG) & LINKBANCORP (NASDAQ:LNKB)

LINKBANCORP (NASDAQ:LNKB) and SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

LINKBANCORP has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SB Financial Group has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

37.5% of LINKBANCORP shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.7% of SB Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 37.5% of LINKBANCORP shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of SB Financial Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

LINKBANCORP pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. SB Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. LINKBANCORP pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SB Financial Group pays out 28.2% 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. SB Financial Group has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares LINKBANCORP and SB Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LINKBANCORP	17.97%	8.85%	0.90%
SB Financial Group	15.35%	11.02%	0.99%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for LINKBANCORP and SB Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LINKBANCORP	0	3	1	0	2.25
SB Financial Group	0	1	1	0	2.50

LINKBANCORP presently has a consensus target price of $9.63, indicating a potential upside of 13.50%. Given LINKBANCORP’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LINKBANCORP is more favorable than SB Financial Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LINKBANCORP and SB Financial Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LINKBANCORP	$186.50 million	1.70	$33.51 million	$0.90	9.42
SB Financial Group	$65.56 million	1.96	$13.97 million	$2.20	9.26

LINKBANCORP has higher revenue and earnings than SB Financial Group. SB Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LINKBANCORP, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About LINKBANCORP

LINKBANCORP, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for The Gratz Bank, that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, nonprofit, and business customers in Pennsylvania. Its deposit products include demand, saving, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also offers commercial real estate, commercial business, commercial real estate construction, land development, residential real estate, home equity, consumer, agricultural, and municipal loans. It also provides online banking, mobile banking, direct and remote deposit, and cash management services. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

About SB Financial Group

SB Financial Group, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for the State Bank and Trust Company that provides a range of commercial banking and wealth management services to individual and corporate customers primarily in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. It offers checking, savings, money market accounts, as well as time certificates of deposit; and commercial, consumer, agricultural, and residential mortgage loans. The company also provides automatic teller machine, personal and corporate trust, commercial leasing, bank credit card, safe deposit box rental, internet banking, private client group, and other personalized banking products and services; and various trust and financial services comprising asset management services for individuals and corporate employee benefit plans, as well as brokerage services. In addition, it sells insurance products to retail and commercial customers. The company was formerly known as Rurban Financial Corp. and changed its name to SB Financial Group, Inc. in April 2013. SB Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1902 and is based in Defiance, Ohio.