Critical Survey: CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB) and Metro Bank (OTCMKTS:MBNKF)

Metro Bank (OTCMKTS:MBNKF) and CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Metro Bank has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CrossFirst Bankshares has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.3% of CrossFirst Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.0% of CrossFirst Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Metro Bank and CrossFirst Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Metro Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
CrossFirst Bankshares	14.37%	10.86%	1.01%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Metro Bank and CrossFirst Bankshares’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Metro Bank	$845.12 million	0.28	-$89.92 million	N/A	N/A
CrossFirst Bankshares	$455.82 million	1.45	$66.67 million	$1.38	9.71

CrossFirst Bankshares has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Metro Bank.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Metro Bank and CrossFirst Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Metro Bank	1	0	0	0	1.00
CrossFirst Bankshares	0	1	3	0	2.75

CrossFirst Bankshares has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.06%. Given CrossFirst Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CrossFirst Bankshares is more favorable than Metro Bank.

Summary

CrossFirst Bankshares beats Metro Bank on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Metro Bank

Metro Bank Holdings PLC operates as the bank holding company for Metro Bank PLC that provides various banking products and services in the United Kingdom. It offers personal banking products and services, including current, cash, and foreign currency accounts; savings; residential and buy-to-let mortgages; overdrafts; credit cards and personal loans; pet insurance; and safe deposit box services. The company also provides business banking products and services comprising business bank, commercial and community current, foreign currency, and insolvency practitioner accounts; deposit accounts, such as business and community instant access deposit, business notice, client premium and fixed term deposit, and business and community fixed term deposit accounts; insurance products; and business and commercial loans and overdrafts, asset and invoice financing, bounce back loans, business credit cards, and recovery loan schemes. In addition, it offers private banking products and services, such as private bank, savings, foreign currency, and money management accounts; mortgages; credit cards; and partnership loans. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

About CrossFirst Bankshares

CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for CrossFirst Bank that provides various banking and financial services to businesses, business owners, professionals, and its personal networks. The company offers commercial and industrial loans, including enterprise value lending; commercial real estate loans; construction and development loans, such as home builder lending; residential real estate, multifamily real estate, energy, SBA, and consumer loans; and credit cards. It also provides deposit banking products, including personal and business checking and savings accounts; treasury management services; money market accounts; certificates of deposits; negotiable order of withdrawal accounts; automated teller machine access; and mobile banking and international banking services, as well as non-interest-bearing demand deposits and interest-bearing deposits, including transaction accounts. In addition, the company acquires brokered deposits, internet subscription certificates of deposit, and reciprocal deposits. Further, it holds investments in marketable securities. The company serves its clients though branch network, as well as digital banking products. It has full-service banking offices in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.