Analyzing Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FMCB) & California BanCorp (NASDAQ:BCAL)

California BanCorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) and Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FMCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares California BanCorp and Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California BanCorp	26.60%	11.51%	1.57%
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	30.88%	15.05%	1.67%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares California BanCorp and Farmers & Merchants Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California BanCorp	$237.07 million	2.57	$63.06 million	$1.93	9.77
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	$303.12 million	2.68	$88.46 million	$134.01	8.67

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for California BanCorp and Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California BanCorp	1	0	3	1	2.80
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

California BanCorp presently has a consensus target price of $20.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.75%. Given California BanCorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe California BanCorp is more favorable than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.4% of California BanCorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.6% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.8% of California BanCorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.5% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are owned 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.

Dividends

California BanCorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $20.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. California BanCorp pays out 20.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays out 15.1% 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

California BanCorp has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 0.19, suggesting that its stock price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

California BanCorp beats Farmers & Merchants Bancorp on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About California BanCorp

Southern California Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A. that provides various financial products to individuals, professionals, and small-to medium-sized businesses. The company offers checking, personal and business savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides home equity lines of credit, business loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate and construction loans, small business administration loans, letters of credit, and personal and business credit cards. In addition, the company provides cash vault, sweep accounts, and remote deposit capture services; online and mobile banking services; courier service; lockbox services; and merchant services. It operates branches in San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties, as well as the Inland Empire. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Central California that provides various banking services to businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, time certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. It also offers range of lending products comprising commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, agribusiness, and consumer loans, as well as equipment leases and credit card services; commercial products, including term loans, lines of credit and other working capital financing, and letters of credit; and financing products, such as automobile financing, home improvement, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company provides various specialized services consisting of credit card programs for merchants, lockbox and other collection services, account reconciliation, investment sweep, online account access, and electronic funds transfers through domestic and international wire and automated clearinghouse; online banking services; and investment products, such as mutual funds and annuities. The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Lodi, California.