Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) & Benchmark Bankshares (OTCMKTS:BMBN) Critical Comparison

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Benchmark Bankshares and Home Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Benchmark Bankshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Home Bancorp	0	3	1	1	2.60

Home Bancorp has a consensus price target of $65.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.51%. Given Home Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Home Bancorp is more favorable than Benchmark Bankshares.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Benchmark Bankshares and Home Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Benchmark Bankshares	$83.37 million	2.05	$19.84 million	$4.46	8.62
Home Bancorp	$209.23 million	2.39	$46.06 million	$5.95	10.74

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

Dividends

Benchmark Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Home Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Benchmark Bankshares pays out 21.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Bancorp pays out 20.8% 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. Home Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

3.2% of Benchmark Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.4% of Home Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 14.0% of Benchmark Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Home Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Benchmark Bankshares and Home Bancorp’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
Home Bancorp	22.18%	10.86%	1.32%

Volatility and Risk

Benchmark Bankshares has a beta of 0.13, meaning that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Bancorp has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Home Bancorp beats Benchmark Bankshares on 15 of the 18 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 Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides various loan products comprising one-to four-family first mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines, commercial real estate loans, construction and land loans, multi-family residential loans, commercial and industrial loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it invests in securities; and offers credit cards and online banking services. Home Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.