Community Investors Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CIBN) vs. Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) Critical Review

Community Investors Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CIBN) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 15.8% of Community Investors Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Community Investors Bancorp and Flushing Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Community Investors Bancorp	14.51%	N/A	N/A
Flushing Financial	7.15%	6.25%	0.50%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Community Investors Bancorp and Flushing Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Community Investors Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Flushing Financial	0	4	0	0	2.00

Flushing Financial has a consensus target price of $16.80, suggesting a potential upside of 5.86%. Given Flushing Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than Community Investors Bancorp.

Risk & Volatility

Community Investors Bancorp has a beta of 0.02, suggesting that its share price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Community Investors Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Community Investors Bancorp pays out 10.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial pays out 88.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Community Investors Bancorp and Flushing Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Community Investors Bancorp	$19.58 million	0.95	$1.82 million	$3.97	5.92
Flushing Financial	$489.63 million	1.10	$18.88 million	$1.00	15.87

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

Summary

Flushing Financial beats Community Investors Bancorp on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Community Investors Bancorp

Community Investors Bancorp, Inc. operates as a thrift holding company for First Federal Community Bank of Bucyrus that engages in the provision of banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers in northern Ohio. The company offers deposit accounts, including demand, NOW, checking, savings, money market, Christmas club, health savings, certificates of deposit, time deposit, and individual retirement accounts. It also provides consumer loans, home equity loans, home equity line of credit, auto and RV loans, residential real estate loans, mortgage loans, and construction loans for personal use; and business loans, lines of credit, term loans, ag loans, nonresidential real estate loans, secured loans, credit cards, commercial investment real estate, construction loans, and equipment financing for business use. In addition, the company offers online and mobile banking, bill payments, e-statements, remote deposit capture, cash management, mobile and night deposits, debit cards, overdraft protection, safety deposit boxes, telephone banking, positive pay/check reconciliation, direct deposit, and ACH and payroll services. Community Investors Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1888 and is based in Bucyrus, Ohio.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.