Analyzing TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) and Westbury Bancorp (OTCMKTS:WBBW)

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) and Westbury Bancorp (OTCMKTS:WBBW) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for TowneBank and Westbury Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TowneBank	0	1	1	0	2.50
Westbury Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

TowneBank presently has a consensus target price of $40.50, indicating a potential upside of 16.25%. Given TowneBank’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TowneBank is more favorable than Westbury Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

TowneBank has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westbury Bancorp has a beta of 0.14, suggesting that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TowneBank and Westbury Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TowneBank	$1.03 billion	2.55	$153.71 million	$2.15	16.20
Westbury Bancorp	$34.41 million	1.60	$7.99 million	N/A	N/A

TowneBank has higher revenue and earnings than Westbury Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares TowneBank and Westbury Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TowneBank	15.77%	7.77%	0.96%
Westbury Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

56.0% of TowneBank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Westbury Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of TowneBank shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Westbury Bancorp shares are owned by 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.

Summary

TowneBank beats Westbury Bancorp on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TowneBank

TowneBank provides retail and commercial banking services for individuals, commercial enterprises, and professionals. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Realty, and Insurance. It accepts various deposits, including demand deposits, savings accounts, money rate savings, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers secured and unsecured personal loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education, and personal investments; commercial loans for working capital, business expansion, and equipment and machinery purchases; and mortgage loans, as well as real estate acquisition, development, and construction loans. In addition, it provides other services, such as safe deposit boxes, treasury management services, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, and automatic drafts for various accounts, as well as online, mobile, and on-call banking services. Further, the company offers documentation services to accomplish tax deferral to investors; investment and asset management services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; and other financial services, such as financial, retirement, and estate planning services, as well as assistance on various investment options comprising alternative investments, annuities, margin accounts, convertible bonds, and pension and profit-sharing plans. Additionally, it provides residential real estate, relocation, property management, vacation rentals, and title and settlement services; and originates residential mortgage loans. The company also offers life, property, casualty, and vehicle insurance services; and employee benefit programs, such as health, dental, vision, and disability insurance. It operates in Richmond, Virginia, the Greater Hampton Roads region in southeastern Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Greenville, North Carolina. TowneBank was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Portsmouth, Virginia.

About Westbury Bancorp

Westbury Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Westbury Bank that provides various community banking and financial products and services for individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. The company offers checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and term certificate accounts; personal, mortgage, one-to four-family residential real estate, multi-family, commercial business, loans, commercial real estate loans, and construction loans; credit cards; and online and mobile banking services. Westbury Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin.