Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) and AmeriServ Financial (NASDAQ:ASRV) Critical Survey

AmeriServ Financial (NASDAQ:ASRV) and Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares AmeriServ Financial and Metropolitan Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AmeriServ Financial	9.51%	7.13%	0.58%
Metropolitan Bank	14.31%	10.22%	1.01%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for AmeriServ Financial and Metropolitan Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AmeriServ Financial	0	0	1	0	3.00
Metropolitan Bank	0	1	2	1	3.00

Metropolitan Bank has a consensus target price of $105.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.39%. Given Metropolitan Bank’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Metropolitan Bank is more favorable than AmeriServ Financial.

Dividends

AmeriServ Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Metropolitan Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. AmeriServ Financial pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Metropolitan Bank pays out 17.7% 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.

Volatility and Risk

AmeriServ Financial has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Metropolitan Bank has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

31.5% of AmeriServ Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.8% of Metropolitan Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 7.9% of AmeriServ Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Metropolitan Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AmeriServ Financial and Metropolitan Bank”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AmeriServ Financial	$88.34 million	0.84	$5.61 million	$0.51	8.61
Metropolitan Bank	$527.15 million	2.03	$71.10 million	$7.90	10.95

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

Summary

Metropolitan Bank beats AmeriServ Financial on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AmeriServ Financial

AmeriServ Financial, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of consumer, mortgage and commercial financial products and services through its subsidiary. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Wealth Management, and Investment or Parent. The Community Banking segment includes both retail and commercial banking activities. The Wealth Management segment involves in the operations of a Trust Company, West Chester Capital Advisors an investment advisory firm, and Financial Services. The Investment or Parent segment offers investment securities, borrowing activities, and general corporate expenses. The company was founded in January 1983 and is headquartered in Johnstown, PA.

About Metropolitan Bank

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank that provides a range of business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to small businesses, middle-market enterprises, public entities, and individuals in the New York metropolitan area. The company offers checking, savings, term deposit, money market, demand deposit, and other interest-bearing transaction accounts. It also provides lending products, including commercial real estate, multi-family, construction, and one-to four-family real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; consumer loans; acquisition and renovation loans; loans to refinance or return borrower equity; loans on owner-occupied properties; working capital lines of credit; trade finance and letters of credit; and term loans. In addition, the company offers cash management services, as well as online and mobile banking, ACH, remote deposit capture, and debit cards. The company was formerly known as Metbank Holding Corp. and changed its name to Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. in January 2007. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in New York, New York.