Critical Survey: Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP) versus Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Civista Bancshares and Home Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Civista Bancshares	0	3	3	0	2.50
Home Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40

Civista Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $30.25, suggesting a potential upside of 5.70%. Home Bancorp has a consensus target price of $65.17, suggesting a potential upside of 5.28%. Given Civista Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Civista Bancshares is more favorable than Home Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Civista Bancshares has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Civista Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Home Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Civista Bancshares pays out 25.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Bancorp pays out 22.6% 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. Civista Bancshares has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Home Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.1% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.4% of Home Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Home Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Civista Bancshares and Home Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Civista Bancshares	$254.95 million	2.32	$46.21 million	$2.79	10.26
Home Bancorp	$209.23 million	2.30	$46.06 million	$5.67	10.92

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

Profitability

This table compares Civista Bancshares and Home Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Civista Bancshares	21.82%	10.98%	1.41%
Home Bancorp	21.05%	9.96%	1.25%

Summary

Civista Bancshares beats Home Bancorp on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Civista Bancshares

Civista Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company and the parent of Civista Bank, a community bank headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio. The bank provides personal and business banking services, including deposit accounts, commercial and consumer lending, and mortgage services. Civista Bank also offers services such as treasury management and wealth management. Its banking network serves customers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The bank traces its history to Citizens Banking Company, established in Ohio in 1884.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. Through its subsidiary, Home Bank, N.A., it provides banking services to individuals, businesses and other organizations. Home Bank offers deposit accounts and lending products, including residential mortgage, consumer, commercial real estate and commercial business loans. Its services also include online and mobile banking. The bank traces its roots to 1908 and serves communities in Louisiana and Mississippi, with a presence in areas including Acadiana, Baton Rouge and the New Orleans region.