Comparing Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK) & Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB)

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB) and Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Dividends

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Southern States Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft pays out 10.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern States Bancshares pays out 10.1% 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.

Volatility and Risk

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern States Bancshares has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Southern States Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft	0	2	2	0	2.50
Southern States Bancshares	0	0	2	0	3.00

Southern States Bancshares has a consensus target price of $35.50, suggesting a potential upside of 14.11%. Given Southern States Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Southern States Bancshares is more favorable than Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.9% of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.7% of Southern States Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 14.8% of Southern States Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Southern States Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft	$29.49 billion	1.19	$6.85 billion	$1.95	8.69
Southern States Bancshares	$94.58 million	2.93	$31.95 million	$3.55	8.76

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has higher revenue and earnings than Southern States Bancshares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern States Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Southern States Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft	5.58%	4.63%	0.26%
Southern States Bancshares	19.33%	14.88%	1.32%

Summary

Southern States Bancshares beats Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, a stock corporation, provides corporate and investment banking, and asset management products and services to private individuals, corporate entities, and institutional clients in Germany, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through Corporate Bank, Investment Bank, Private Bank, and Asset Management segments. The Corporate Bank segment offers cash management, trade finance and lending, trust and agency, and securities services, as well as risk management solutions. The Investment Bank segment provides debt origination, merger and acquisitions, foreign exchange, and equity advisory and origination platform services. The Private Bank segment offers payment and account services, and credit and deposit products, as well as investment advice products, such as environmental, social, and governance products. This segment also provides banking, wealth management, other financial, and postal and parcel services; and supports in planning, managing and investing wealth, financing personal and business interests, and servicing institutional and corporate needs. The Asset Management segment offers investment solutions, such as alternative investments, which include real estate, infrastructure, liquid real assets, and sustainable investments; and various other services, including insurance and pension solutions, asset liability management, portfolio management solutions, and asset allocation advisory to individuals and institutions. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

About Southern States Bancshares

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern States Bank that provides community banking services to businesses and individuals. The company provides various deposit products, such as savings, money market, and noninterest-bearing demand accounts; certificates of deposit; and time deposits. It offers real estate loan products, including loans for real estate construction and development, residential mortgages, and commercial real estate mortgage loans; commercial and industrial loans; and direct consumer installment loans, overdrafts, and other revolving credit loans. In addition, it offers online and mobile banking, and ATM services. Southern States Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Anniston, Alabama.