Reviewing Solera National Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SLRK) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and Solera National Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SLRK) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Solera National Bancorp has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Huntington Bancshares and Solera National Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Bancshares	1	4	14	2	2.81
Solera National Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Huntington Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $19.97, suggesting a potential upside of 11.70%. Given Huntington Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Huntington Bancshares is more favorable than Solera National Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and Solera National Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96 billion	2.18	$1.94 billion	$1.43	12.50
Solera National Bancorp	$75.25 million	0.84	$18.07 million	$5.22	2.82

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

Profitability

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and Solera National Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Bancshares	18.06%	12.14%	1.09%
Solera National Bancorp	28.36%	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Solera National Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Huntington Bancshares beats Solera National Bancorp on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About Solera National Bancorp

Solera National Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Solera National Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services in the United States. The company offers checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, time and demand deposits, and individual retirement accounts (IRA), as well as certificates of deposit; and real estate secured loans, construction loans, small business administration loans, business lines of credit, and equipment financing. It also provides online banking, account analysis, combined account analysis, commercial sweep, remote deposit, ACH origination, payroll direct deposit, merchant, business debit card, and cash management services. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Lakewood, Colorado.