Comparing Affinity Bancshares (NASDAQ:AFBI) & United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB)

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and Affinity Bancshares (NASDAQ:AFBI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for United Community Banks and Affinity Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	1	0	0	2.00
Affinity Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and Affinity Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	17.93%	8.91%	1.09%
Affinity Bancshares	13.78%	6.05%	0.85%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.3% of Affinity Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.4% of Affinity Bancshares shares are held by company 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Community Banks and Affinity Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$952.89 million	4.06	$252.40 million	$2.20	14.46
Affinity Bancshares	$49.99 million	2.48	$5.44 million	$1.07	18.40

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than Affinity Bancshares. United Community Banks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Affinity Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Affinity Bancshares has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United Community Banks beats Affinity Bancshares on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About Affinity Bancshares

Affinity Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Affinity Bank that provides various banking products and services in Georgia. The company offers various deposit accounts, including savings accounts, checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts, as well as Kasasa (rewards) deposit program for checking accounts with interest rates or cash-back rewards. It offers commercial and residential real estate, commercial and industrial, residential mortgage, construction and land, and consumer loans, as well as balloon and adjustable-rate loans. In addition, the company invests in U.S. treasury securities; securities issued by the U.S. government and its agencies, or government sponsored enterprises, including mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations; corporate and municipal bonds; certificates of deposit in other financial institutions; and federal and money market funds. Further, it operates a virtual bank under the name FitnessBank, which accepts deposits and provides higher interest rates based on customers meeting certain fitness goals. Affinity Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Covington, Georgia.