Unity Bancorp (UNTY) Competitors

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) and Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Is UNTY or MBIN more profitable?

Unity Bancorp has a net margin of 25.24% compared to Merchants Bancorp's net margin of 22.08%. Merchants Bancorp's return on equity of 22.86% beat Unity Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unity Bancorp	25.24%	15.08%	1.59%
Merchants Bancorp	22.08%	22.86%	1.76%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in UNTY or MBIN?

Merchants Bancorp received 41 more outperform votes than Unity Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.12% of users gave Merchants Bancorp an outperform vote while only 64.64% of users gave Unity Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Unity Bancorp	Outperform Votes 170 64.64%	Underperform Votes 93 35.36%
Merchants Bancorp	Outperform Votes 211 65.12%	Underperform Votes 113 34.88%

Which has more risk & volatility, UNTY or MBIN?

Unity Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is UNTY or MBIN a better dividend stock?

Unity Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Merchants Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Unity Bancorp pays out 13.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Merchants Bancorp pays out 6.3% 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. Unity Bancorp has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Unity Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in UNTY or MBIN?

42.3% of Unity Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.6% of Merchants Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 29.7% of Unity Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 34.8% of Merchants Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, UNTY or MBIN?

Merchants Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Unity Bancorp. Merchants Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unity Bancorp, 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
Unity Bancorp	$110.12M	3.78	$41.45M	$4.26	9.72
Merchants Bancorp	$666.97M	2.07	$320.39M	$6.31	4.77

Do analysts recommend UNTY or MBIN?

Unity Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $52.50, indicating a potential upside of 26.81%. Merchants Bancorp has a consensus price target of $47.50, indicating a potential upside of 57.91%. Given Merchants Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Merchants Bancorp is more favorable than Unity Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unity Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Merchants Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media prefer UNTY or MBIN?

In the previous week, Merchants Bancorp had 8 more articles in the media than Unity Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Merchants Bancorp and 4 mentions for Unity Bancorp. Unity Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat Merchants Bancorp's score of 0.27 indicating that Unity Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unity Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Merchants Bancorp	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Merchants Bancorp beats Unity Bancorp on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.