Head-To-Head Review: Magyar Bancorp (NASDAQ:MGYR) vs. BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN)

BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) and Magyar Bancorp (NASDAQ:MGYR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

16.9% of BayFirst Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.3% of Magyar Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 56.6% of BayFirst Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Magyar Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares BayFirst Financial and Magyar Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BayFirst Financial	-80.74%	-101.15%	-4.83%
Magyar Bancorp	18.89%	9.59%	1.13%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares BayFirst Financial and Magyar Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BayFirst Financial	$104.19 million	2.26	-$22.94 million	($14.88)	-0.59
Magyar Bancorp	$58.42 million	2.15	$9.76 million	$1.87	10.40

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for BayFirst Financial and Magyar Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BayFirst Financial	1	0	0	0	1.00
Magyar Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Risk & Volatility

BayFirst Financial has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Magyar Bancorp has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Magyar Bancorp beats BayFirst Financial on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BayFirst Financial

BayFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for BayFirst National Bank that provides community banking services for businesses and individuals. The company offers checking, savings, NOW, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement account; and safety deposit boxes. It also provides commercial real estate mortgages; construction and development, working capital, and business loans; auto, boat, and recreational vehicle loans; and residential mortgages, personal lines of credit, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company offers mobile and online banking, treasury management, wire transfers, cash management, merchant processing, remote deposit capture, night depositor, online bill payment, courier, retail investment, ACH originations, and other services. It operates full-service banking centers in St. Petersburg, Seminole, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Sarasota, Tampa, Belleair Bluffs, and Bradenton, Florida. The company was formerly known as First Home Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to BayFirst Financial Corp. in May 2021. BayFirst Financial Corp. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida.

About Magyar Bancorp

Magyar Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Magyar Bank that provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in New Jersey, the United States. It accepts various deposit accounts, including demand, savings, NOW, money market, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides residential mortgage loans, multi-family and commercial real estate mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, commercial business loans, and construction loans, as well as small business administration loans. In addition, it offers non-deposit investment products and financial planning services, including insurance products, fixed and variable annuities, and retirement planning for individual and commercial customers; and buys, sells, and holds investment securities. The company has branch offices located in New Brunswick, North Brunswick, South Brunswick, Branchburg, Bridgewater, and Edison, New Jersey. Magyar Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.