VersaBank (VBNK) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MBIN or VBNK?

Merchants Bancorp received 200 more outperform votes than VersaBank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.72% of users gave Merchants Bancorp an outperform vote while only 57.89% of users gave VersaBank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Merchants Bancorp	Outperform Votes 211 64.72%	Underperform Votes 115 35.28%
VersaBank	Outperform Votes 11 57.89%	Underperform Votes 8 42.11%

Is MBIN or VBNK a better dividend stock?

Merchants Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. VersaBank pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Merchants Bancorp pays out 7.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. VersaBank pays out 8.9% 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. Merchants Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Merchants Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate MBIN or VBNK?

Merchants Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $47.50, suggesting a potential upside of 45.53%. VersaBank has a consensus target price of $13.95, suggesting a potential upside of 24.50%. Given Merchants Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Merchants Bancorp is more favorable than VersaBank.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Merchants Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
VersaBank	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has higher earnings and valuation, MBIN or VBNK?

Merchants Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than VersaBank. Merchants Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than VersaBank, 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
Merchants Bancorp	$645.08M	2.32	$320.39M	$5.44	6.00
VersaBank	$112.25M	3.25	$29.20M	$0.79	14.18

Is MBIN or VBNK more profitable?

Merchants Bancorp has a net margin of 22.08% compared to VersaBank's net margin of 13.52%. Merchants Bancorp's return on equity of 22.86% beat VersaBank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merchants Bancorp	22.08%	22.86%	1.76%
VersaBank	13.52%	11.20%	0.99%

Which has more volatility and risk, MBIN or VBNK?

Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VersaBank has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in MBIN or VBNK?

24.6% of Merchants Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.9% of VersaBank shares are owned by institutional investors. 34.8% of Merchants Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of VersaBank shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer MBIN or VBNK?

In the previous week, VersaBank had 26 more articles in the media than Merchants Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for VersaBank and 3 mentions for Merchants Bancorp. Merchants Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.79 beat VersaBank's score of 0.21 indicating that Merchants Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Merchants Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
VersaBank	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Merchants Bancorp beats VersaBank on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.