Financial Survey: BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB) vs. Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC)

BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB) and Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

BEO Bancorp has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for BEO Bancorp and Great Southern Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BEO Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Great Southern Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00

Great Southern Bancorp has a consensus price target of $61.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.33%. Given Great Southern Bancorp’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Great Southern Bancorp is more favorable than BEO Bancorp.

Dividends

BEO Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Great Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Great Southern Bancorp pays out 31.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares BEO Bancorp and Great Southern Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BEO Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Great Southern Bancorp	17.42%	10.68%	1.03%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.7% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.6% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BEO Bancorp and Great Southern Bancorp’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BEO Bancorp	$51.01 million	1.88	$14.21 million	N/A	N/A
Great Southern Bancorp	$214.57 million	3.27	$67.80 million	$5.09	11.83

Great Southern Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than BEO Bancorp.

Summary

Great Southern Bancorp beats BEO Bancorp on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BEO Bancorp

BEO Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Eastern Oregon that provides commercial and consumer financing, banking and mortgage lending, and other services in Northeastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington. The company offers checking, money market, time deposits, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial, agricultural, real estate, installment, credit card, mortgage, term, home, construction, farm, and refinancing loans; lines of credit; home enhancement loan programs; Internet banking and bill payment services; business sweep and banking services; and automated teller machines and safe deposit facilities, as well as originates and sells mortgage loans into the secondary market. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Heppner, Oregon.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home improvement loans, and unsecured consumer loans, as well as secured consumer loans, such as automobile loans, boat loans, home equity loans, and loans secured by savings deposits. It also provides insurance and merchant banking services. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.