Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) vs. M&F Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MFBP) Critical Contrast

Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) and M&F Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MFBP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Flushing Financial and M&F Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flushing Financial	-6.46%	3.25%	0.24%
M&F Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Flushing Financial and M&F Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flushing Financial	$124.74 million	2.97	-$31.33 million	($1.01)	-10.85
M&F Bancorp	$29.33 million	1.22	$4.77 million	N/A	N/A

M&F Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Flushing Financial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of M&F Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, M&F Bancorp has a beta of -0.34, suggesting that its share price is 134% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.0%. M&F Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Flushing Financial pays out -87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Flushing Financial and M&F Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flushing Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33
M&F Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Flushing Financial currently has a consensus price target of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 47.52%. Given Flushing Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than M&F Bancorp.

Summary

Flushing Financial beats M&F Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.

About M&F Bancorp

M&F Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Mechanics and Farmers Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in North Carolina. It offers deposit products, including demand deposits; checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company provides loans for commercial and residential real estate, and construction; and consumer and other loans; as well as ATM services. M&F Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.