Financial Analysis: Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) and Commercial National Financial (OTCMKTS:CEFC)

Commercial National Financial (OTCMKTS:CEFC) and Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.3% of Customers Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 23.0% of Commercial National Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of Customers Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Commercial National Financial and Customers Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Commercial National Financial	$27.39 million	1.48	$6.17 million	$1.38	7.43
Customers Bancorp	$723.48 million	2.12	$250.14 million	$6.16	7.93

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Commercial National Financial and Customers Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commercial National Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Customers Bancorp	0	5	3	1	2.56

Customers Bancorp has a consensus target price of $62.22, suggesting a potential upside of 27.43%. Given Customers Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Customers Bancorp is more favorable than Commercial National Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Commercial National Financial and Customers Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Commercial National Financial	18.88%	N/A	N/A
Customers Bancorp	15.22%	13.55%	1.01%

Volatility and Risk

Commercial National Financial has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Customers Bancorp has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Customers Bancorp beats Commercial National Financial on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Commercial National Financial

Commercial National Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Commercial Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, agricultural businesses, commercial businesses, and light industries in Michigan. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, certificates of deposit, and health savings accounts. It also offers personal loan products, such as automobile loans, recreational vehicle loans, personal lines of credit, and unsecured term loans, as well as home equity loans and mortgage loans; and business loans, including secured lines of credit, business equity line of credit, SBA loans, equipment loans, real estate loans, vehicle loans, term loans, USDA loan programs, and capital access loan programs. In addition, the company provides other services comprising business VISA check cards, debit and ATM cards, business statement savings, business certificates of deposit, merchant services, night depository, telephone banking, online banking, e-statements, direct deposit of payroll for employees, child support payments, collection of receivables, and remote deposit capture, as well as treasury services. It provides its services through offices located in Barry, Gratiot, Ingham, Kent, and Montcalm counties in Michigan. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Ithaca, Michigan.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its lending business offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and multifamily and residential mortgage loans; SBA lending and financing; specialty lending includes fund finance, real estate specialty finance, technology and venture, and healthcare and financial institutions group; commercial loans to mortgage companies, and commercial equipment financing; and fund finance, such as variable rate loans secured by collateral pools to private debt funds; and cash management services. In addition, the company provides digital banking including Banking-as-a-Service to fintech companies, payments and treasury services to businesses, and consumer loans through fintech companies and the TassatPay, a blockchain-based instant B2B payments platform which offers instant payments including over-the-counter desks, exchanges, liquidity providers, market makers, funds, and other B2B verticals. Further, it offers mobile phone and internet banking, wire transfers, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, courier, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, positive pay, and cash management services, such as account reconciliation, collections, and sweep accounts. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in West Reading, Pennsylvania.