Head to Head Survey: Pacific Alliance Bank (OTCMKTS:PFBN) and ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB)

Pacific Alliance Bank (OTCMKTS:PFBN) and ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Pacific Alliance Bank and ACNB, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pacific Alliance Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
ACNB	0	0	3	0	3.00

ACNB has a consensus price target of $49.25, suggesting a potential upside of 8.67%. Given ACNB’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ACNB is more favorable than Pacific Alliance Bank.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pacific Alliance Bank and ACNB”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pacific Alliance Bank	$23.57 million	1.22	$1.43 million	N/A	N/A
ACNB	$132.20 million	3.59	$31.85 million	$2.69	16.85

ACNB has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Alliance Bank.

Profitability

This table compares Pacific Alliance Bank and ACNB’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pacific Alliance Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
ACNB	15.64%	10.22%	1.25%

Dividends

Pacific Alliance Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. ACNB pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. ACNB pays out 50.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ACNB has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. ACNB is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

32.4% of ACNB shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of ACNB shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Pacific Alliance Bank has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACNB has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ACNB beats Pacific Alliance Bank on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pacific Alliance Bank

Pacific Alliance Bank provides commercial and consumer banking products and services for small to midsize business owners, and employees in the United States. It offers checking, money market, savings, and individual retirement accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage, commercial, term, commercial real estate, construction, and SBA loans; and lines of credit. In addition, it offers personal and business online services; and casher checks, check reorder, night deposit, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, positive pay/check reconciliation, wire, debit card, and other services. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in San Gabriel, California.

About ACNB

ACNB Corporation, a financial holding company, offers banking, insurance, and financial services to individual, business, and government customers in the United States. The company provides checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits and debit cards. It also offers commercial lending products, such as commercial mortgages, real estate development and construction loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, and agricultural and governmental loans; consumer lending products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile and recreational vehicle loans, manufactured housing loans, and personal lines of credit; and mortgage lending programs include personal residential mortgages, and residential construction and investment mortgage loans. In addition, the company provides other services that are related to testamentary trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney, custodial accounts, and investment management and advisory accounts; and retail brokerage services. Further, it acts as a trustee to invest in, protect, manage, and distribute financial assets. Additionally, the company offers property and casualty, health, life, and disability insurance products to commercial and personal clients; and online, telephone, and mobile banking, as well as automated teller machine services. ACNB Corporation was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.