Comparing Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) & First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW)

Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) and First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Chester Bancorp and First Western Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
First Western Financial	8.02%	5.74%	0.48%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Chester Bancorp and First Western Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chester Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
First Western Financial	0	1	1	1	3.00

First Western Financial has a consensus price target of $27.00, indicating a potential downside of 11.56%. Given First Western Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Western Financial is more favorable than Chester Bancorp.

Volatility & Risk

Chester Bancorp has a beta of -0.11, meaning that its share price is 111% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Western Financial has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chester Bancorp and First Western Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
First Western Financial	$186.36 million	1.59	$13.19 million	$1.55	19.70

First Western Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Chester Bancorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

60.3% of First Western Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 38.8% of Chester Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.1% of First Western Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

First Western Financial beats Chester Bancorp on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chester Bancorp

Chester Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Chester National Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Chester, Illinois. It offers checking accounts, such as regular checking, student checking, golden checking, and club checking accounts; savings accounts, including statement savings, Christmas club, and money market accounts; and certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans comprising mortgage, construction, lot, home equity, consumer, and business loans; and reorder check services. It operates two full service offices in Sparta, Illinois; and Perryville, Missouri. Chester Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Chester, Illinois.

About First Western Financial

First Western Financial, Inc., a financial holding company, provides wealth advisory, private baking, personal trust, investment management, mortgage lending, and institutional asset management services. The company operates through two segments: Wealth Management and Mortgage. The Wealth Management segment provides deposit, loan, life insurance, and trust and investment management advisory products and services. The Mortgage segment engages in soliciting, originating, and selling mortgage loans into the secondary market. It serves entrepreneurs, professionals, high net worth individuals or families, and business and philanthropic organizations. First Western Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.