West Bancorporation (WTBA) Competitors

West Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WTBA) and TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in WTBA or TCBK?

44.3% of West Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.1% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.6% of West Bancorporation shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WTBA or TCBK a better dividend stock?

West Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. TriCo Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. West Bancorporation pays out 64.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TriCo Bancshares pays out 38.5% 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. TriCo Bancshares has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to WTBA or TCBK?

In the previous week, TriCo Bancshares had 4 more articles in the media than West Bancorporation. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for TriCo Bancshares and 1 mentions for West Bancorporation. TriCo Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat West Bancorporation's score of 0.98 indicating that TriCo Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
West Bancorporation	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
TriCo Bancshares	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, WTBA or TCBK?

West Bancorporation has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TriCo Bancshares has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WTBA or TCBK?

TriCo Bancshares received 149 more outperform votes than West Bancorporation when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 54.11% of users gave TriCo Bancshares an outperform vote while only 45.57% of users gave West Bancorporation an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
West Bancorporation	Outperform Votes 108 45.57%	Underperform Votes 129 54.43%
TriCo Bancshares	Outperform Votes 257 54.11%	Underperform Votes 218 45.89%

Is WTBA or TCBK more profitable?

TriCo Bancshares has a net margin of 21.41% compared to West Bancorporation's net margin of 13.04%. West Bancorporation's return on equity of 11.28% beat TriCo Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Bancorporation	13.04%	11.28%	0.65%
TriCo Bancshares	21.41%	9.28%	1.16%

Which has better valuation and earnings, WTBA or TCBK?

TriCo Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than West Bancorporation. TriCo Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Bancorporation, 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
West Bancorporation	$198.50M	1.58	$24.05M	$1.54	12.07
TriCo Bancshares	$531.04M	2.42	$114.87M	$3.43	11.38

Do analysts recommend WTBA or TCBK?

West Bancorporation presently has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.72%. TriCo Bancshares has a consensus target price of $47.80, suggesting a potential upside of 22.47%. Given West Bancorporation's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe West Bancorporation is more favorable than TriCo Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Bancorporation	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
TriCo Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Summary

TriCo Bancshares beats West Bancorporation on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.