Benchmark Bankshares (OTCMKTS:BMBN) and Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) Financial Survey

Benchmark Bankshares (OTCMKTS:BMBN) and Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Benchmark Bankshares and Colony Bankcorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Benchmark Bankshares	$83.37 million	2.06	$19.84 million	$4.46	8.64
Colony Bankcorp	$190.23 million	2.20	$28.25 million	$1.60	12.37

Colony Bankcorp has higher revenue and earnings than Benchmark Bankshares. Benchmark Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Colony Bankcorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.2% of Benchmark Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by institutional investors. 14.0% of Benchmark Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Benchmark Bankshares and Colony Bankcorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Benchmark Bankshares	23.80%	N/A	N/A
Colony Bankcorp	14.83%	10.23%	1.01%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Benchmark Bankshares and Colony Bankcorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Benchmark Bankshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Colony Bankcorp	0	1	3	0	2.75

Colony Bankcorp has a consensus price target of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.22%. Given Colony Bankcorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Colony Bankcorp is more favorable than Benchmark Bankshares.

Volatility & Risk

Benchmark Bankshares has a beta of 0.13, suggesting that its share price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Benchmark Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Benchmark Bankshares pays out 21.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colony Bankcorp pays out 30.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Colony Bankcorp has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Benchmark Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Colony Bankcorp beats Benchmark Bankshares on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Benchmark Bankshares

Benchmark Bankshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Benchmark Community Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, saving, commercial services, and youth accounts. Its loan products include personal, mortgage, other real estate, business, auto, and student loans. The company also offers credit and debit cards; wealth management services comprising financial solutions, financial and retirement planning, and portfolio management, as well as estate, charitable giving, and trust services; and reorder checks, safe deposit boxes, wire transfers, bill pay, and internet and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1971 and is based in Kenbridge, Virginia.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers various deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers internet banking services, electronic bill payment services, safe deposit box rentals, telephone banking, credit and debit card services, and remote depository products, as well as access to a network of ATMs. As of January 20, 2022, it operated 39 locations throughout Georgia. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.