Financial Analysis: Hanover Bancorp (NASDAQ:HNVR) vs. Pioneer Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBFS)

Hanover Bancorp (NASDAQ:HNVR) and Pioneer Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBFS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Hanover Bancorp and Pioneer Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hanover Bancorp	1	3	1	0	2.00
Pioneer Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00

Hanover Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $24.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.63%. Given Hanover Bancorp’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Hanover Bancorp is more favorable than Pioneer Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Hanover Bancorp and Pioneer Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hanover Bancorp	5.22%	5.18%	0.43%
Pioneer Bancorp	16.02%	6.43%	0.95%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

15.0% of Hanover Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 23.9% of Hanover Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Pioneer Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hanover Bancorp and Pioneer Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hanover Bancorp	$143.32 million	1.12	$7.49 million	$1.00	22.40
Pioneer Bancorp	$31.81 million	11.49	$6.45 million	$0.80	18.21

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

Volatility and Risk

Hanover Bancorp has a beta of 0.04, indicating that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pioneer Bancorp has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hanover Bancorp beats Pioneer Bancorp on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hanover Bancorp

Hanover Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company for Hanover Community Bank, provides personal and business lending and deposit services to businesses, municipalities, and individuals in the New York metro area. The company offers checking, credit cards, debit cards, money market, savings, government and municipal banking, and professional services, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposit and individual retirement accounts. It also provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, small business administration, lending directory services, and residential mortgage. In addition, the company offers cash management, online and mobile banking, merchant services, and digital solutions. Its banking offices are located in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Kings, New York Counties, New York, Monmouth County, Freehold, and New Jersey. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mineola, New York.

About Pioneer Bancorp

Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Pioneer Savings Bank that provides various banking products and services in New York. The company accepts various deposit products, such as demand, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts. Its loan products include commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, commercial construction, residential mortgage lending, consumer loans, and home equity lines of credit. The company also invests in the U.S. governmental securities, fixed rate collateralized mortgage obligations, mortgage-backed securities, fixed-rate investment grade bonds, and equity securities. In addition, the company offers personal and commercial insurance products, including homeowners, automobile, and comprehensive business insurance; employee benefit products and services, such as group health, dental, disability, and life insurance products, as well as defined contribution, defined benefit administration, and human resource management services; and wealth management services comprising investment advice, retirement income planning, estate planning, business succession, and employer retirement planning. The company was founded in 1889 and is based in Albany, New York. Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Pioneer Bancorp, MHC.