City Bank (OTCMKTS:CTBK) vs. Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) Critical Comparison

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) and City Bank (OTCMKTS:CTBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

30.9% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.9% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 37.5% of City Bank shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Oak Valley Bancorp and City Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oak Valley Bancorp	24.80%	11.99%	1.20%
City Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Oak Valley Bancorp and City Bank”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oak Valley Bancorp	$95.04 million	2.95	$23.91 million	$2.88	11.56
City Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Oak Valley Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than City Bank.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Oak Valley Bancorp and City Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oak Valley Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00
City Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

Given City Bank’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe City Bank is more favorable than Oak Valley Bancorp.

Summary

Oak Valley Bancorp beats City Bank on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial real estate loans, commercial business lending and trade finance, and small business administration lending, as well as consumer loans, including automobile loans, home mortgages, credit lines, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides online and mobile banking, remote deposit capture, merchant, night depository, extended hours, wire transfer of funds, note collection services, and automated teller machines. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Oakdale, California.

About City Bank

As of April 17, 2010, City Bank was acquired by Whidbey Island Bank. City Bank offers commercial banking services. The company was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Lynnwood, Washington.