Reviewing Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) & Touchstone Bankshares (OTCMKTS:TSBA)

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) and Touchstone Bankshares (OTCMKTS:TSBA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Dividends

Heritage Commerce pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Touchstone Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Heritage Commerce pays out 56.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Touchstone Bankshares pays out 65.3% 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. Heritage Commerce is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Heritage Commerce and Touchstone Bankshares’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heritage Commerce	$243.30 million	2.00	$64.44 million	$0.92	8.63
Touchstone Bankshares	N/A	N/A	$1.61 million	$0.49	24.55

Heritage Commerce has higher revenue and earnings than Touchstone Bankshares. Heritage Commerce is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Touchstone Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.6% of Heritage Commerce shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.4% of Touchstone Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Heritage Commerce shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Heritage Commerce has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Touchstone Bankshares has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Heritage Commerce and Touchstone Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Commerce	0	1	3	0	2.75
Touchstone Bankshares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Heritage Commerce currently has a consensus price target of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 32.24%. Given Heritage Commerce’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Heritage Commerce is more favorable than Touchstone Bankshares.

Profitability

This table compares Heritage Commerce and Touchstone Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Commerce	22.84%	8.40%	1.05%
Touchstone Bankshares	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Heritage Commerce beats Touchstone Bankshares on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Heritage Commerce

Heritage Commerce Corp operates as the bank holding company for Heritage Bank of Commerce that provides various commercial and personal banking services to residents and the business/professional community in California. Its deposit products for business banking and retail markets include interest and non-interest-bearing demand, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and time deposits. The company's loan portfolio comprises commercial loans, such as operating secured and unsecured loans advanced for working capital, equipment purchases, and other business purposes; commercial real estate loans; commercial construction loans for rental properties, commercial buildings, and homes; small business administration loans; home equity lines of credit; multifamily loans on residential properties; residential mortgage loans; and consumer loans consisting of loans for financing automobiles, various consumer goods, and other personal purposes. In addition, it offers other banking services, including cashier's checks, bank by mail, night depositories, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automated payroll, electronic funds transfer, online bill pay, homeowner association, remote deposit capture, automated clearing house origination, electronic data interchange, and check imaging services, as well as other customary banking, factoring financing, and electronic banking services. Heritage Commerce Corp was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Touchstone Bankshares

Touchstone Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Touchstone Bank that provides various community banking products and services in the United States. The company offers personal and business savings and checking accounts. It also provides home mortgage, professional mortgage, home equity, auto, and personal term loans; personal lines of credit; and business loans comprising commercial real estate, operating capital, business term, and construction loans, as well as business lines of credit. In addition, the company offers credit and debit cards; and digital banking, treasury, wealth management, and financial planning services. It has branches in northern North Carolina and south-central Virginia. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Prince George, Virginia.