BayCom (NASDAQ:BCML – Get Free Report) and Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF – Get Free Report) 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, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
Profitability
This table compares BayCom and Heartland Financial USA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| BayCom | 19.27% | 8.41% | 1.02% |
| Heartland Financial USA | 8.17% | 11.33% | 1.03% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
66.2% of BayCom shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.6% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by institutional investors. 7.2% of BayCom shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| BayCom | $133.31 million | 1.69 | $27.42 million | $2.21 | 9.09 |
| Heartland Financial USA | $932.87 million | 2.01 | $79.92 million | $1.66 | 26.44 |
Heartland Financial USA has higher revenue and earnings than BayCom. BayCom is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heartland Financial USA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for BayCom and Heartland Financial USA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| BayCom | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Heartland Financial USA | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 |
BayCom presently has a consensus target price of $24.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.52%. Heartland Financial USA has a consensus target price of $45.60, indicating a potential upside of 3.90%. Given BayCom’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe BayCom is more favorable than Heartland Financial USA.
Dividends
BayCom pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Heartland Financial USA pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. BayCom pays out 18.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heartland Financial USA pays out 72.3% 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.
Volatility & Risk
BayCom has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Financial USA has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Heartland Financial USA beats BayCom on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About BayCom
BayCom Corp operates as the bank holding company for United Business Bank that provides various financial services to small and mid-sized businesses, service professionals, and individuals. The company provides demand, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts. It offers commercial and multifamily real estate loans, including owner-occupied and investor real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans, such as equipment loans and working capital lines of credit; small business administration loans; construction and land loans; agriculture-related loans; and consumer loans comprising installment loans, unsecured and secured personal lines of credit, and overdraft protection. In addition, the company provides online and mobile banking, automated teller machine, remote deposit capture, night depository, courier, direct deposit, treasury management, wire transfer, automated clearing house, debit cards, cashier's and travelers checks, letters of credit, lockbox, positive pay, reverse positive pay, and account reconciliation services, as well as zero balance accounts and sweep accounts, including loan sweep. It operates through a network of full-service banking branches in Northern and Southern California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Denver, Colorado; Custer, Delta, and Grand counties, Colorado; and Seattle, Washington and Central New Mexico. The company was formerly known as Bay Commercial Bank and changed its name to BayCom Corp in January 2017. BayCom Corp was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California.
About Heartland Financial USA
Heartland Financial USA, Inc., a bank holding company, provides commercial, small business, and consumer banking services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, demand deposit accounts, NOW accounts, savings, money market, and individual retirement; certificates of deposit; and other time deposits. It offers loans, including commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, agricultural, small business, and real estate mortgage loans; consumer loans comprising motor vehicle, home improvement, home equity line of credit, and fixed rate home equity and personal lines of credit; and credit cards for commercial, business, and personal use. In addition, the company provides business and personal online banking, and mobile banking; bill payment, remote deposit capture, and treasury management services; debit cards; automated teller machines; and automated clearing house services, wire transfers, insured cash sweeps, zero balance accounts, lockbox, image cash letter, remote deposit capture, commercial cards for travel and entertainment purchasing, merchant services to receive credit card payments, investment sweep accounts, reconciliation services, online invoice processing, foreign exchange and positive pay fraud prevention services for checks and automated clearing house services payments. Further, it offers wealth management, trust services, brokerage services, and fixed rate annuity products; and investment services, including mutual funds, individual retirement products, and education savings products. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
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