Farmers National Banc (NASDAQ:FMNB) & Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) Head-To-Head Analysis

Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) and Farmers National Banc (NASDAQ:FMNB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Chester Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmers National Banc has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Chester Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.3%. Farmers National Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Farmers National Banc pays out 46.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chester Bancorp and Farmers National Banc”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Farmers National Banc	$279.92 million	1.75	$45.95 million	$1.45	8.95

Farmers National Banc has higher revenue and earnings than Chester Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Chester Bancorp and Farmers National Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Farmers National Banc	19.50%	13.34%	1.14%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

38.7% of Farmers National Banc shares are owned by institutional investors. 38.8% of Chester Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Farmers National Banc shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Chester Bancorp and Farmers National Banc, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chester Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Farmers National Banc	0	3	1	0	2.25

Farmers National Banc has a consensus price target of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.71%. Given Farmers National Banc’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Farmers National Banc is more favorable than Chester Bancorp.

Summary

Farmers National Banc beats Chester Bancorp on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chester Bancorp

Chester Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Chester National Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Chester, Illinois. It offers checking accounts, such as regular checking, student checking, golden checking, and club checking accounts; savings accounts, including statement savings, Christmas club, and money market accounts; and certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans comprising mortgage, construction, lot, home equity, consumer, and business loans; and reorder check services. It operates two full service offices in Sparta, Illinois; and Perryville, Missouri. Chester Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Chester, Illinois.

About Farmers National Banc

Farmers National Banc Corp. operates as a bank holding company for The Farmers National Bank of Canfield engages in the banking, trust, retirement consulting, insurance, and financial management businesses. It offers commercial and retail banking services, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; commercial, mortgage and installment, and home equity loans; home equity lines of credit, night depository, safe deposit box, money order, bank check, automated teller machine, Internet banking, travel card, E bond transaction, brokerage, and other services. The company also provides personal and corporate trust services in the areas of estate settlement, trust administration, employee benefit plans, and retirement services; property and casualty insurance products and services; and various insurance products through licensed representatives, as well as invests in municipal securities. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Canfield, Ohio.