Pinnacle Bank (OTCMKTS:PBNK) & ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB) Financial Review

Pinnacle Bank (OTCMKTS:PBNK) and ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Pinnacle Bank and ACNB”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pinnacle Bank	$53.91 million	2.11	$8.85 million	$0.86	22.33
ACNB	$141.43 million	3.63	$31.85 million	$3.27	15.11

ACNB has higher revenue and earnings than Pinnacle Bank. ACNB is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pinnacle Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Pinnacle Bank and ACNB, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pinnacle Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
ACNB	0	1	2	1	3.00

ACNB has a consensus target price of $48.67, suggesting a potential downside of 1.48%. Given ACNB’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ACNB is more favorable than Pinnacle Bank.

Profitability

This table compares Pinnacle Bank and ACNB’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pinnacle Bank	16.62%	8.37%	0.97%
ACNB	18.47%	11.58%	1.42%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

8.4% of Pinnacle Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of ACNB shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of ACNB shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Pinnacle Bank has a beta of 0.24, suggesting that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACNB has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ACNB beats Pinnacle Bank on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pinnacle Bank

Pinnacle Bank, a commercial bank, provides various depository and credit services in Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey counties. The company offers checking, savings, money market, sweep, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and certificates of deposit account registry services. It also provides home equity lines of credit and single family home construction loans; and loans and lines of credit, letters of credit, commercial real estate, and government assisted loans, as well as credit cards. In addition, the company offers automated teller machine cards/debit cards, debit card protection products, and safe deposit boxes; cash management products, such as online and mobile banking, online bill payment, mobile check deposit, automated clearing house (ACH) origination, remote deposit capture, night depository box, positive pay, ACH fraud filter, merchant card processing, wire transfer, and foreign currency services; and asset based lending covering accounts receivable financing, factoring, and purchase order financing services. It serves individual and business customers, as well as nonprofit organizations in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Salinas, and Campbell. Pinnacle Bank was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Gilroy, California.

About ACNB

ACNB Corporation, a financial holding company, offers banking, insurance, and financial services to individual, business, and government customers in the United States. The company provides checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits and debit cards. It also offers commercial lending products, such as commercial mortgages, real estate development and construction loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, and agricultural and governmental loans; consumer lending products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile and recreational vehicle loans, manufactured housing loans, and personal lines of credit; and mortgage lending programs include personal residential mortgages, and residential construction and investment mortgage loans. In addition, the company provides other services that are related to testamentary trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney, custodial accounts, and investment management and advisory accounts; and retail brokerage services. Further, it acts as a trustee to invest in, protect, manage, and distribute financial assets. Additionally, the company offers property and casualty, health, life, and disability insurance products to commercial and personal clients; and online, telephone, and mobile banking, as well as automated teller machine services. ACNB Corporation was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.