Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (OTCMKTS:FMBL) versus Woori Financial Group (NYSE:WF) Financial Contrast

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (OTCMKTS:FMBL) and Woori Financial Group (NYSE:WF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and Woori Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach	13.71%	4.57%	0.50%
Woori Financial Group	10.48%	7.08%	0.48%

Dividends

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays an annual dividend of $112.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Woori Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Woori Financial Group pays out 17.1% 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. Woori Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and Woori Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach	0	0	0	0	N/A
Woori Financial Group	0	0	1	0	3.00

Risk and Volatility

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Woori Financial Group has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and Woori Financial Group’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach	$431.97 million	1.30	$70.01 million	$485.58	9.63
Woori Financial Group	$11,888.63 billion	0.00	$1.94 billion	$7.13	4.45

Woori Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach. Woori Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

7.6% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.8% of Woori Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Woori Financial Group beats Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach provides various banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Barbara Counties. It offers checking, savings, Christmas club savings, health savings, market rate savings, and money market accounts; demand and time deposits; certificates of deposit; and individual retirement account. The company also provides personal, home, commercial real estate, real estate and construction, and commercial business loans, as well as lines of credit; financing for residential loans comprising single-family and multifamily loans; and credit and debit cards. In addition, it offers account management, receivables and payables, and risk management services; commercial lending services; and faith-based and healthcare banking services, as well as online and mobile banking services. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

About Woori Financial Group

Woori Financial Group Inc., a financial holding company, operates as a commercial bank that provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, corporations, and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Korea. It operates through Banking, Credit Card, Capital, Investment Banking, and Others segments. The company offers savings, demand, installment, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; repurchase instruments; and working capital, facilities, general purpose household, mortgage, and home equity loans. It also provides debit and credit cards, cash services, card loans, and related services; lease financing; and securities operation, sale of financial instruments, project financing, and other related solutions. In addition, the company offers credit purchase, cash advance, credit card loans, foreign exchange services and dealing, import and export-related services, offshore lending, syndicated loans and foreign currency securities investment, investment trust products, bancassurance, and private equity funds. Further, it is involved in the real estate trust, system software development and maintenance, financing, credit information, securities investment and trading, derivatives trading, trust, asset securitization, investment and international banking, money transfer, and other services. Additionally, the company offers automated telephone, internet, and mobile banking services; and trust management, trustee, and custodian services. Woori Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.