Analyzing West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC) and ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB)

West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC) and ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.7% of West Coast Community Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of ACNB shares are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of ACNB shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares West Coast Community Bancorp and ACNB”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Coast Community Bancorp	$123.69 million	3.40	$29.58 million	$3.39	11.72
ACNB	$108.34 million	3.25	$31.85 million	$3.73	11.06

ACNB has lower revenue, but higher earnings than West Coast Community Bancorp. ACNB is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Coast Community Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

West Coast Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACNB has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

West Coast Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. ACNB pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. West Coast Community Bancorp pays out 22.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ACNB pays out 34.3% 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.

Profitability

This table compares West Coast Community Bancorp and ACNB’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Coast Community Bancorp	23.91%	N/A	N/A
ACNB	24.09%	10.91%	1.31%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for West Coast Community Bancorp and ACNB, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Coast Community Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
ACNB	0	0	3	0	3.00

ACNB has a consensus price target of $49.33, indicating a potential upside of 19.60%. Given ACNB’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ACNB is more favorable than West Coast Community Bancorp.

Summary

ACNB beats West Coast Community Bancorp on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Coast Community Bancorp

West Coast Community Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Santa Cruz County Bank that provides a range of commercial and personal banking services to residents and businesses in the United States. It offers checking, savings, money market, certificate of deposits, and health savings accounts; and individual retirement account and retirement plans. The company also provides lending products, including real estate commercial property, construction, asset-based, lines of credit, SBA loans, 504 loan program, business and industry, farm services agency, agricultural, and wine industry lending. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, merchant services, online and mobile banking, remote deposit services, wire and ACH manager, treasury management, payment, and cash management services. West Coast Community Bancorp was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

About ACNB

ACNB Corporation, a financial holding company, offers banking, insurance, and financial services to individual, business, and government customers in the United States. The company provides checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits and debit cards. It also offers commercial lending products, such as commercial mortgages, real estate development and construction loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, and agricultural and governmental loans; consumer lending products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile and recreational vehicle loans, manufactured housing loans, and personal lines of credit; and mortgage lending programs include personal residential mortgages, and residential construction and investment mortgage loans. In addition, the company provides other services that are related to testamentary trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney, custodial accounts, and investment management and advisory accounts; and retail brokerage services. Further, it acts as a trustee to invest in, protect, manage, and distribute financial assets. Additionally, the company offers property and casualty, health, life, and disability insurance products to commercial and personal clients; and online, telephone, and mobile banking, as well as automated teller machine services. ACNB Corporation was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.