VersaBank (VBNK) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in MBIN or VBNK?

24.6% of Merchants Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.9% of VersaBank shares are held by institutional investors. 34.8% of Merchants Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is MBIN or VBNK more profitable?

Merchants Bancorp has a net margin of 18.06% compared to VersaBank's net margin of 9.56%. Merchants Bancorp's return on equity of 16.06% beat VersaBank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merchants Bancorp	18.06%	16.06%	1.34%
VersaBank	9.56%	7.47%	0.72%

Which has more risk & volatility, MBIN or VBNK?

Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VersaBank has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 1.3%. VersaBank pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Merchants Bancorp pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. VersaBank pays out 10.3% 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. Merchants Bancorp has raised 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 recommend MBIN or VBNK?

Merchants Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $38.33, indicating a potential upside of 20.70%. VersaBank has a consensus price target of $11.27, indicating a potential downside of 11.29%. Given Merchants Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, 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	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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	$1.45B	1.00	$320.39M	$4.55	6.98
VersaBank	$216.31M	1.89	$29.20M	$0.68	18.68

Does the media refer more to MBIN or VBNK?

In the previous week, Merchants Bancorp and Merchants Bancorp both had 3 articles in the media. Merchants Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat VersaBank's score of 0.52 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	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
VersaBank	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Merchants Bancorp beats VersaBank on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.