Head-To-Head Contrast: South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK) versus Texas Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBS)

South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK) and Texas Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares South Atlantic Bancshares and Texas Community Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
South Atlantic Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Texas Community Bancshares	11.79%	5.66%	0.70%

Risk and Volatility

South Atlantic Bancshares has a beta of 0.1, suggesting that its share price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Texas Community Bancshares has a beta of -0.01, suggesting that its share price is 101% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares South Atlantic Bancshares and Texas Community Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
South Atlantic Bancshares	$102.25 million	1.74	$17.08 million	$2.25	10.39
Texas Community Bancshares	$16.73 million	2.86	$2.84 million	$1.09	15.22

South Atlantic Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Texas Community Bancshares. South Atlantic Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Texas Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for South Atlantic Bancshares and Texas Community Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
South Atlantic Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00
Texas Community Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.3% of South Atlantic Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.8% of Texas Community Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 15.3% of Texas Community Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

South Atlantic Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Texas Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. South Atlantic Bancshares pays out 4.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Texas Community Bancshares pays out 22.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Texas Community Bancshares has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Texas Community Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Texas Community Bancshares beats South Atlantic Bancshares on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About South Atlantic Bancshares

South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for South Atlantic Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, and corporations in South Carolina. The company offers checking, money market, and saving accounts, as well as certificate of deposit, individual retirement, and health saving accounts; personal, auto, and recreation loans, as well as home equity and ready reserve overdraft line of credits, and commercial lending products; and credit cards. It also provides cash management and merchant card services; remote deposit capture and automated clearing house services; online, mobile, and telephone banking services; personal and business checks; mortgage products and services; and wealth management services. The company operates offices in Myrtle Beach, Carolina Forest, North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, and Beaufort, South Carolina. South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

About Texas Community Bancshares

Texas Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Mineola Community Bank, S.S.B. that provides loans and banking services to consumers and commercial customers in Mineola, Texas and the surrounding area, and the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. It generates a selection of deposit accounts, including savings accounts, checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also originates primarily one- to four-family residential mortgage loans, commercial real estate loans, and construction and land loans; and car, boat, share, unsecured loans, etc., as well as agricultural loans, commercial loans, and consumer and other loans. In addition, it invests in securities; and offers sweep account, safe deposit boxes, e-statement, cards, online banking, and mobile banking services. Texas Community Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Mineola, Texas.