Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) versus Suruga Bank (OTCMKTS:SUGBY) Critical Survey

Suruga Bank (OTCMKTS:SUGBY) and Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Suruga Bank and Landmark Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Suruga Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
Landmark Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Dividends

Suruga Bank pays an annual dividend of $2.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Landmark Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Suruga Bank pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Landmark Bancorp pays out 27.4% 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. Landmark Bancorp has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Landmark Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.7% of Landmark Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Landmark Bancorp shares are held 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Suruga Bank and Landmark Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Suruga Bank	$598.19 million	2.64	$133.17 million	$9.76	8.20
Landmark Bancorp	$70.64 million	2.44	$18.77 million	$3.07	9.22

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

Risk and Volatility

Suruga Bank has a beta of -0.07, meaning that its share price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Landmark Bancorp has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Suruga Bank and Landmark Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Suruga Bank	27.03%	8.96%	0.78%
Landmark Bancorp	19.56%	12.61%	1.17%

Summary

Landmark Bancorp beats Suruga Bank on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Suruga Bank

Suruga Bank Ltd. provides various banking and financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Japan. The company offers deposit products, such as time, ordinary, savings, foreign currency, and other deposits, as well as current and general accounts; card, housing, second house, startup, and business up term loans, as well as loans by purpose; credit and debit cards; overdrafts; and other financing products. It also provides investment trust, public bond, pension contribution, insurance, inheritance/trust, lottery, foreign currency, pay-easy, web direct, safe deposit box, external linkage, foreign remittance, fund management, e-combination, payment, nursing care/medical care/dispensing compensation receivable factoring, mortgage, and Internet and telephone banking services. In addition, the company offers staffing, money lending, guarantee, printing, leasing, and agency services. The company was incorporated in 1895 and is headquartered in Numazu, Japan.

About Landmark Bancorp

Landmark Bancorp, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for Landmark National Bank that provides various financial and banking services to its local communities. It offers non-interest bearing demand, money market, checking, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides one-to-four family residential real estate, construction and land, commercial real estate, commercial, paycheck protection program, municipal, and agriculture loans; and consumer and other loans, such as automobile, boat, and home improvement and home equity loans, as well as insurance, and mobile and online banking services. In addition, the company invests in certain investment and mortgage-related securities. It operates in the eastern, central, southeast, and southwest Kansas. The company was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Manhattan, Kansas.