Financial Analysis: First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) vs. BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB)

First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) and BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for First Northwest Bancorp and BEO Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Northwest Bancorp	1	2	1	0	2.00
BEO Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

First Northwest Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.76%. Given First Northwest Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe First Northwest Bancorp is more favorable than BEO Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

First Northwest Bancorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BEO Bancorp has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are held by 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 First Northwest Bancorp and BEO Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Northwest Bancorp	4.20%	3.14%	0.23%
BEO Bancorp	N/A	16.83%	1.69%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Northwest Bancorp and BEO Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Northwest Bancorp	$118.64 million	0.84	-$4.19 million	$0.55	19.06
BEO Bancorp	$59.32 million	1.19	$16.19 million	$13.26	4.45

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

Summary

First Northwest Bancorp beats BEO Bancorp on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Northwest Bancorp

First Northwest Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for First Fed Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in western Washington, the United States. The company accepts various deposit instruments, including checking, money market deposit, savings, and transaction accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also originates one- to four-family mortgage loans, commercial and multi-family real estate loans, construction and land loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans primarily consisting of automobile loans, and home-equity loans and lines of credit. First Northwest Bancorp operates branch offices in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, Washington. First Northwest Bancorp was founded in 1923 and is based in Port Angeles, Washington.

About BEO Bancorp

BEO Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Eastern Oregon that provides commercial and consumer financing, banking and mortgage lending, and other services in Northeastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington. The company offers checking, money market, time deposits, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial, agricultural, real estate, installment, credit card, mortgage, term, home, construction, farm, and refinancing loans; lines of credit; home enhancement loan programs; Internet banking and bill payment services; business sweep and banking services; and automated teller machines and safe deposit facilities, as well as originates and sells mortgage loans into the secondary market. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Heppner, Oregon.