Critical Comparison: Patriot National Bancorp (NASDAQ:PNBK) versus Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB)

Patriot National Bancorp (NASDAQ:PNBK) and Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Patriot National Bancorp has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

39.3% of Patriot National Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.6% of Patriot National Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are owned by 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Patriot National Bancorp and Amerant Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Patriot National Bancorp	$64.96 million	0.11	-$4.18 million	($7.40)	-0.25
Amerant Bancorp	$636.08 million	1.71	$32.49 million	($1.48)	-17.41

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

Profitability

This table compares Patriot National Bancorp and Amerant Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Patriot National Bancorp	-45.58%	-81.22%	-2.82%
Amerant Bancorp	-8.38%	5.73%	0.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Patriot National Bancorp and Amerant Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Patriot National Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Amerant Bancorp	0	2	3	0	2.60

Amerant Bancorp has a consensus target price of $25.60, suggesting a potential downside of 0.62%. Given Amerant Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Amerant Bancorp is more favorable than Patriot National Bancorp.

Summary

Amerant Bancorp beats Patriot National Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Patriot National Bancorp

Patriot National Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Patriot Bank, N.A. that provides community banking services to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, and professionals. The company accepts consumer and commercial deposit accounts, such as checking, interest-bearing negotiable order of withdrawal, money market, time certificates of deposit, savings, prepaid deposit, on-line national money market, individual retirement accounts, and health savings accounts, as well as certificate of deposit account registry service. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate, commercial business, small business administration, construction, purchased residential real estate, and various consumer loans. The company also offers automated clearing house transfers, lockbox, internet banking, bill payment, remote deposit capture, debit card, money order, traveler's check, and automatic teller machine services. Patriot National Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It offers checking, savings, business, and money market accounts; cash management services; and certificates of deposits. The company also provides variable and fixed rate commercial real estate loans; owner-occupied; single-family residential; commercial; and consumer loans and overdrafts, such as automobile, personal, or loans secured by cash or securities and revolving credit card agreements. In addition, it offers trust and estate planning products and services to high-net-worth customers, brokerage and investment advisory services in global capital markets, and wealth management and fiduciary services. Further, the company provides debit and credit cards, night depositories, direct deposits, cashier's checks, safe deposit boxes, letters of credit, and treasury management services, including wire transfer, remote deposit capture, and automated clearinghouse services; derivative instruments; and online and mobile banking, account balances, statements and other documents, online transfers and bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements services, as well as automated teller machines, and banking by mobile devices, telephone, and mail. It operates banking centers in Florida and Texas. The company was formerly known as Mercantil Bank Holding Corporation and changed its name to Amerant Bancorp Inc. in June 2019. Amerant Bancorp Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.