United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) & Thomasville Bancshares (OTCMKTS:THVB) Critical Survey

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

Volatility and Risk

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Thomasville Bancshares has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for United Community Banks and Thomasville Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	4	4	0	2.50
Thomasville Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00

United Community Banks currently has a consensus price target of $38.40, indicating a potential upside of 17.03%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Thomasville Bancshares.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	22.05%	9.65%	1.24%
Thomasville Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Thomasville Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. United Community Banks pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Thomasville Bancshares pays out 42.6% 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. United Community Banks is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares United Community Banks and Thomasville Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$1.54 billion	2.56	$328.10 million	$2.72	12.06
Thomasville Bancshares	$137.59 million	4.70	$44.71 million	$7.05	14.47

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

Summary

United Community Banks beats Thomasville Bancshares on 13 of the 16 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 Thomasville Bancshares

Thomasville Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Thomasville National Bank that provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers primarily in Thomas and Glynn counties, Georgia, Leon County, Florida, and the surrounding counties. The company offers checking and savings accounts; money market accounts; and certificates of deposits. It also provides commercial real estate mortgage loans, such as non-farm and non-residential commercial real estate loans, construction loans for commercial businesses, multifamily loans secured by income producing properties, and farmland; and 1-4 family residential loans, including first mortgage liens, junior liens, and home equity lines. In addition, the company offers commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; consumer loans comprising direct consumer instalment loans, overdrafts, and other revolving credit loans and educational loans; and loans to municipalities and development authorities. Further, it provides trust and money management services. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Thomasville, Georgia.