Comparing Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) & Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST)

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

Profitability

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bancorp and Catalyst Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	13.16%	7.16%	0.70%
Catalyst Bancorp	N/A	-4.12%	-1.20%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp and Catalyst Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00
Catalyst Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.79%. Given Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is more favorable than Catalyst Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its share price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.0% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.8% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bancorp and Catalyst Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	$96.56 million	4.24	$22.79 million	$1.70	17.60
Catalyst Bancorp	$5.42 million	9.58	$600,000.00	($0.82)	-14.57

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Catalyst Bancorp. Catalyst Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp beats Catalyst Bancorp on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for The Farmers & Merchants State Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts. It also provides commercial, agricultural, and residential mortgage, as well as consumer lending products; loans for farmland, farm equipment, and livestock; operating loans for seeds, fertilizers, and feeds; home improvement loans; and loans for autos, trucks, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles. In addition, the company offers commercial real estate loans, such as lines of credit and machinery purchase loans. Further, it provides automated teller machine or interactive teller machine services; and online and mobile banking, bill-pay, on-line statement opportunities, and remote deposit capture or electronic deposit processing. Additionally, the company offers electronic transaction origination, such as wire and automated clearing house file transmittal services. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Archbold, Ohio.

About Catalyst Bancorp

Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Catalyst Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and businesses in Louisiana. The company accepts various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand and NOW accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also offers single family residential first mortgage loans, commercial real estate mortgage loans, multi-family residential mortgage loans, commercial and industrial loans, construction and land loans, consumer loans, and other loans. In addition, the company invests in various types of securities comprising mortgage-backed securities, the U.S. treasury obligations, securities of various federal agencies and of state and municipal governments, certificates of deposit at federally insured banks and savings institutions, and federal funds. Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Opelousas, Louisiana.