Analyzing Avidbank (OTCMKTS:AVBH) and First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB)

Avidbank (OTCMKTS:AVBH) and First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Avidbank and First Republic Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avidbank	14.31%	N/A	N/A
First Republic Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Avidbank has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Republic Bank has a beta of 2.45, meaning that its stock price is 145% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Avidbank and First Republic Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avidbank	0	0	1	0	3.00
First Republic Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

Avidbank presently has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.28%. Given Avidbank’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Avidbank is more favorable than First Republic Bank.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

15.9% of Avidbank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of First Republic Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of First Republic Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Avidbank and First Republic Bank”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avidbank	$47.45 million	5.78	$21.01 million	($1.82)	-13.77
First Republic Bank	$6.75 billion	0.00	$1.67 billion	$5.32	0.00

First Republic Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Avidbank. Avidbank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Republic Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Avidbank beats First Republic Bank on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avidbank

Avidbank Holdings, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Avidbank that provides financial products and services to businesses and individuals in the Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco counties. The company offers business and personal deposit products, such as checking, money market, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposit. It also provides personal lending products, including secured and unsecured lines of credit, home equity lines of credit, remodel and new home construction loans, and term loans; corporate banking comprising working capital lines of credit, equipment loans, acquisition financing, shareholder buyouts, ESOP loans, and owner-occupied real estate loans; and commercial real estate lending, such as permanent loans and bridge financing products. In addition, the company offers construction lending products, including land acquisition loans, pre-development loans, construction spec SFD, owner-occupied SFD, condominiums, subdivision, unsecured business lines, real estate bridge loans, and RLOC real estate secured loans. Further, it provides various financing solutions, such as fund finance, structured finance, venture lending, asset-based lending, and sponsor finance. Additionally, the company offers various services, such as automated clearing house payments and collections, bill pay, positive pay, wire transfer, lockbox, merchant, remote deposit capture, risk and fraud analytics services, ATM/debit cards, credit cards, business courier, cash management, and complimentary notary services. Furthermore, it offers online and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About First Republic Bank

As of May 1, 2023, First Republic Bank went out of business. Previously, First Republic Bank provided private banking, private business banking, and private wealth management services to clients in metropolitan areas in the United States. The company was founded in 1985 and was headquartered in San Francisco, California. First Republic Bank now trades on OTCPK.