Comparing First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) & Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB)

First Northwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWB) and Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

66.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of First Northwest Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

First Northwest Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for First Northwest Bancorp and Amerant Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Northwest Bancorp	0	1	1	1	3.00
Amerant Bancorp	0	3	3	0	2.50

First Northwest Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 40.99%. Amerant Bancorp has a consensus target price of $30.25, suggesting a potential upside of 2.40%. Given First Northwest Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe First Northwest Bancorp is more favorable than Amerant Bancorp.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Northwest Bancorp	-0.04%	0.62%	0.05%
Amerant Bancorp	10.63%	9.36%	0.86%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Northwest Bancorp and Amerant Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Northwest Bancorp	$118.64 million	0.80	-$4.19 million	($0.01)	-993.00
Amerant Bancorp	$676.04 million	1.71	$52.42 million	$1.69	17.48

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

Summary

Amerant Bancorp beats First Northwest Bancorp on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Northwest Bancorp

First Northwest Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for First Fed Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in western Washington, the United States. The company accepts various deposit instruments, including checking, money market deposit, savings, and transaction accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also originates one- to four-family mortgage loans, commercial and multi-family real estate loans, construction and land loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans primarily consisting of automobile loans, and home-equity loans and lines of credit. First Northwest Bancorp operates branch offices in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, Washington. First Northwest Bancorp was founded in 1923 and is based in Port Angeles, Washington.

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. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposits. It also provides variable and fixed rate commercial real estate loans; loans secured by owner-occupied properties; loans to domestic and foreign individuals primarily secured by personal residence; working capital loans, asset-based lending, participations in shared national credits, purchased receivables, and small business administration loans; loans to financial institutions and acceptances; and consumer loans and overdrafts, such as automobile, personal, or loans secured by cash or securities and revolving credit card agreements. In addition, the company 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, it 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. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 24 banking centers comprising 17 in Florida and 7 in Texas. It also operates loan production offices in Tampa, Florida. 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.