Head to Head Comparison: Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) versus Park National (NYSE:PRK)

Park National (NYSE:PRK) and Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Park National and Chesapeake Financial Shares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Park National	0	2	0	0	2.00
Chesapeake Financial Shares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Park National presently has a consensus target price of $130.00, indicating a potential downside of 29.96%. Given Park National’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Park National is more favorable than Chesapeake Financial Shares.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Park National and Chesapeake Financial Shares’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Park National	$564.30 million	5.31	$126.73 million	$7.90	23.49
Chesapeake Financial Shares	$82.72 million	1.02	$10.12 million	$1.95	9.23

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

Dividends

Park National pays an annual dividend of $4.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Chesapeake Financial Shares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Park National pays out 53.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chesapeake Financial Shares pays out 31.8% 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. Chesapeake Financial Shares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Park National has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Financial Shares has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Park National and Chesapeake Financial Shares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Park National	22.67%	12.49%	1.44%
Chesapeake Financial Shares	10.11%	9.60%	0.63%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.7% of Park National shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Park National shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 39.5% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are held 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.

Summary

Park National beats Chesapeake Financial Shares on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Park National

Park National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Park National Bank that provides commercial banking and trust services in small and medium population areas. The company offers deposits for demand, savings, and time accounts; trust and wealth management services; cash management services; safe deposit operations; electronic funds transfers; Internet and mobile banking solutions with bill pay service; credit cards; and various additional banking-related services. It also provides commercial loans, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, financing for equipment, inventory and accounts receivable, acquisition financing, and commercial leasing, as well as for consumer finance companies; commercial real estate loans comprising mortgage loans to developers and owners of commercial real estate; originates financing leases primarily for the purchase of commercial vehicles, operating/manufacturing equipment, and municipal vehicles/equipment; consumer loans, such as automobile loans; consumer finance services; home equity lines of credit; and residential real estate and construction loans, as well as installment loans and commercial loans. In addition, the company offers aircraft financing services; and ParkDirect, a personal banking application. Park National Corporation was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Newark, Ohio.

About Chesapeake Financial Shares

Chesapeake Financial Shares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Chesapeake Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts interest and noninterest checking, savings, and money market accounts; and variable-rate and fixed-term money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers mortgage, and single-family residential and residential construction loans; commercial loans, which include owner-occupied commercial development, retail, builders/contractors, medical, service and professional, hospitality, nonprofits, marine industry, and agricultural and seafood loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company provides merchant processing, accounts receivable financing, wealth management and trust, and mortgage banking services, as well as cash management services. The company was founded in 1900 and is based in Kilmarnock, Virginia.