Analyzing Brunswick Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BRBW) and Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA)

Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) and Brunswick Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BRBW) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Republic Bancorp and Brunswick Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Republic Bancorp	20.65%	10.79%	1.52%
Brunswick Bancorp	20.13%	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

24.4% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.5% of Brunswick Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 56.6% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Republic Bancorp and Brunswick Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Republic Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Brunswick Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Republic Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.79%. Given Republic Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Republic Bancorp is more favorable than Brunswick Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Republic Bancorp and Brunswick Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Republic Bancorp	$427.52 million	3.54	$90.37 million	$5.26	14.80
Brunswick Bancorp	$16.41 million	2.75	$3.85 million	$1.21	13.22

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

Volatility & Risk

Republic Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brunswick Bancorp has a beta of 0.05, suggesting that its stock price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Republic Bancorp beats Brunswick Bancorp on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Republic Bancorp

Republic Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Republic Bank & Trust Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates in six segments: Traditional Banking, Warehouse, Mortgage Banking, Tax Refund Solutions, Republic Payment Solutions, and Republic Credit Solutions. The company offers demand, money market accounts, savings, individual retirement accounts, time, brokered, and other certificates of deposit; and retail and commercial mortgage, construction and land development, consumer, aircraft, and marine loans. It also provides credit cards; title insurance and other financial products and services; and private banking, lockbox processing, remote deposit capture, business online banking, account reconciliation, automated clearing house processing, and internet and mobile banking services. In addition, it offers short-term and revolving credit facilities to mortgage bankers through mortgage warehouse lines of credit; mortgage banking; tax refund solutions, which facilitate the receipt and payment of federal and state tax refund products through third-party tax preparers and tax-preparation software providers; payments-related products and services to consumers through third party service providers; and consumer credit products. The company offers its services through full-services banking centers in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee. Republic Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About Brunswick Bancorp

Brunswick Bancorp is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of consumer and commercial banking services. It offers personal banking, checking, certificate of deposit accounts, business checking, equipment leasing, commercial mortgages, small business loans, construction loans, and merchant services. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, NJ.