Comparing C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) & Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC)

Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) and C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Dividends

Plumas Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Plumas Bancorp pays out 26.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. C&F Financial pays out 21.4% 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. Plumas Bancorp has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and C&F Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Plumas Bancorp and C&F Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plumas Bancorp	27.39%	15.41%	1.80%
C&F Financial	14.91%	10.72%	1.02%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Plumas Bancorp and C&F Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plumas Bancorp	$112.17 million	3.78	$29.62 million	$5.08	12.00
C&F Financial	$136.42 million	2.42	$26.83 million	$8.96	11.32

Plumas Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than C&F Financial. C&F Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plumas Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Plumas Bancorp and C&F Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plumas Bancorp	0	0	3	1	3.25
C&F Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67

Plumas Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $66.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.81%. C&F Financial has a consensus target price of $115.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.42%. Given C&F Financial’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe C&F Financial is more favorable than Plumas Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, C&F Financial has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Plumas Bancorp beats C&F Financial on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plumas Bancorp

Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

About C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.