U.S.A Bank (OTCMKTS:USBK) & Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) Head to Head Survey

Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) and U.S.A Bank (OTCMKTS:USBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Live Oak Bancshares and U.S.A Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Live Oak Bancshares	0	2	2	0	2.50
U.S.A Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

Live Oak Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $44.20, indicating a potential upside of 21.03%. Given Live Oak Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Live Oak Bancshares is more favorable than U.S.A Bank.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

64.0% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 23.4% of Live Oak Bancshares 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Live Oak Bancshares and U.S.A Bank”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Live Oak Bancshares	$541.23 million	3.09	$77.47 million	$2.22	16.45
U.S.A Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Live Oak Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than U.S.A Bank.

Profitability

This table compares Live Oak Bancshares and U.S.A Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Live Oak Bancshares	7.10%	6.88%	0.55%
U.S.A Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Live Oak Bancshares has a beta of 2, indicating that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U.S.A Bank has a beta of -24.99, indicating that its share price is 2,599% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Live Oak Bancshares beats U.S.A Bank on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Live Oak Bancshares

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking and Fintech. The company accepts various deposit products, including noninterest-bearing demand, as well as interest-bearing checking, money market, savings, and time deposits. It also offers commercial and industrial loans; construction and development loans; owner occupied and non-owner occupied collateral commercial real estate loans; and commercial land loans. In addition, the company provides settlement, accounting, and securitization services for government guaranteed loans; financing for renewable energy application industry; wealth and investment management services to high-net-worth individuals and families; and investment advisory services to a series of funds focused on providing venture capital to new and emerging financial technology companies. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.

About U.S.A Bank

As of July 10, 2010, U.S.A Bank was acquired by Customers Bank (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania). U.S.A Bank operates as a community bank in New York. It offers deposit products, Internet banking, ATM cards, consumer loans, and residential and commercial loans. U.S.A Bank was founded in 2005 and is based in Port Chester, New York.