Eagle Bancorp Montana (EBMT) Competitors

Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) and Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in EBMT or ALRS?

35.7% of Eagle Bancorp Montana shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.3% of Alerus Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of Eagle Bancorp Montana shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Alerus Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is EBMT or ALRS more profitable?

Eagle Bancorp Montana has a net margin of 8.02% compared to Alerus Financial's net margin of 6.26%. Alerus Financial's return on equity of 7.66% beat Eagle Bancorp Montana's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eagle Bancorp Montana	8.02%	5.68%	0.46%
Alerus Financial	6.26%	7.66%	0.68%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, EBMT or ALRS?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eagle Bancorp Montana	$81.43M	1.70	$9.78M	$1.41	12.33
Alerus Financial	$237.02M	2.27	$21.07M	$1.22	17.41

Is EBMT or ALRS a better dividend stock?

Eagle Bancorp Montana pays an annual dividend of $0.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Alerus Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Eagle Bancorp Montana pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alerus Financial pays out 65.6% 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. Eagle Bancorp Montana has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Alerus Financial has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Alerus Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, EBMT or ALRS?

Eagle Bancorp Montana has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alerus Financial has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor EBMT or ALRS?

In the previous week, Eagle Bancorp Montana and Eagle Bancorp Montana both had 1 articles in the media. Alerus Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.73 beat Eagle Bancorp Montana's score of 0.50 indicating that Alerus Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Eagle Bancorp Montana	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alerus Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EBMT or ALRS?

Eagle Bancorp Montana received 153 more outperform votes than Alerus Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 43.50% of users gave Eagle Bancorp Montana an outperform vote while only 22.92% of users gave Alerus Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Eagle Bancorp Montana	Outperform Votes 164 43.50%	Underperform Votes 213 56.50%
Alerus Financial	Outperform Votes 11 22.92%	Underperform Votes 37 77.08%

Do analysts prefer EBMT or ALRS?

Eagle Bancorp Montana presently has a consensus target price of $13.50, indicating a potential downside of 22.37%. Alerus Financial has a consensus target price of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.29%. Given Alerus Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alerus Financial is more favorable than Eagle Bancorp Montana.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eagle Bancorp Montana	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Alerus Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Summary

Alerus Financial beats Eagle Bancorp Montana on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.