Head to Head Analysis: C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) vs. Community Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:CTBI)

Community Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:CTBI) and C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Community Trust Bancorp has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, C&F Financial has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Community Trust Bancorp and C&F Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Community Trust Bancorp	0	2	1	1	2.75
C&F Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Community Trust Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $68.50, suggesting a potential downside of 5.84%. Given Community Trust Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Community Trust Bancorp is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

60.2% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Community Trust Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Community Trust Bancorp pays out 37.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. C&F Financial pays out 22.1% 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. Community Trust Bancorp has raised its dividend for 44 consecutive years and C&F Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Community Trust Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Community Trust Bancorp and C&F Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Community Trust Bancorp	$290.63 million	4.55	$98.06 million	$5.71	12.74
C&F Financial	$186.13 million	1.44	$26.83 million	$8.70	9.51

Community Trust Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than C&F Financial. C&F Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Community Trust Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Community Trust Bancorp and C&F Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Community Trust Bancorp	24.85%	12.27%	1.56%
C&F Financial	14.84%	11.03%	1.03%

Summary

Community Trust Bancorp beats C&F Financial on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Community Trust Bancorp

Community Trust Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Trust Bank, Inc. that engages in the provision of commercial and personal banking, and trust and wealth management services to small and mid-sized communities in eastern, northeastern, central, and south-central Kentucky, as well as southern West Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee. The company accepts time and demand deposits, checking accounts, savings accounts and savings certificates, individual retirement accounts and Keogh plans, and money market accounts. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, construction, mortgage, and personal loans; lease-financing, lines of credit, revolving lines of credit, and term loans, as well as other specialized loans, including asset-based financing; residential and commercial real estate loans; and consumer loans. The company also provides cash management, renting safe deposit boxes, and funds transfer services; issues letters of credit; and acts as a trustee of personal trusts, executor of estates, trustee for employee benefit trusts, and paying agent for bond and stock issues, as well as an investment agent and depositor for securities. In addition, it offers securities brokerage services; debit cards; annuity and life insurance products; and repurchase agreements, as well as mobile, internet banking, and e-statement services. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Pikeville, Kentucky.

About C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.