Comparing Princeton Bancorp (NASDAQ:BPRN) & Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC)

Princeton Bancorp (NASDAQ:BPRN) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Princeton Bancorp and Plumas Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Princeton Bancorp	$139.02 million	2.11	$18.61 million	$3.80	11.36
Plumas Bancorp	$112.17 million	3.82	$29.62 million	$5.08	12.13

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

Profitability

This table compares Princeton Bancorp and Plumas Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Princeton Bancorp	18.99%	9.48%	1.15%
Plumas Bancorp	27.39%	15.41%	1.80%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

43.4% of Princeton Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 23.1% of Princeton Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Princeton Bancorp has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Princeton Bancorp and Plumas Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Princeton Bancorp	0	2	1	1	2.75
Plumas Bancorp	0	0	4	0	3.00

Princeton Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $37.50, indicating a potential downside of 13.11%. Plumas Bancorp has a consensus price target of $66.33, indicating a potential upside of 7.65%. Given Plumas Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Plumas Bancorp is more favorable than Princeton Bancorp.

Dividends

Princeton Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Plumas Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Princeton Bancorp pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Plumas Bancorp pays out 26.0% 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. Plumas Bancorp has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Plumas Bancorp beats Princeton Bancorp on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Princeton Bancorp

Princeton Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for The Bank of Princeton that provides various banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, attorney trust, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers traditional retail banking services, one-to-four-family residential mortgage loans, multi-family and commercial mortgage loans, construction loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans, including home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, and money orders, direct deposit, automated teller machines, cashier's checks, safe deposit boxes, online banking, wire transfers, night depository, remote deposit capture, bank-by-mail, online, and automated telephone banking services, as well as payroll-related services and merchant credit card processing services. Further, the company offers full on-line statements, on-line bill payment, account inquiries, mobile banking, transaction histories and details, and account-to-account transfer services. Princeton Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

About Plumas Bancorp

Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.