Reviewing Harleysville Savings Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) and Bridgewater Bancshares (NASDAQ:BWB)

Harleysville Savings Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) and Bridgewater Bancshares (NASDAQ:BWB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Harleysville Savings Financial and Bridgewater Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Harleysville Savings Financial	21.91%	10.81%	1.09%
Bridgewater Bancshares	14.52%	10.46%	0.81%

Volatility & Risk

Harleysville Savings Financial has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bridgewater Bancshares has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Harleysville Savings Financial and Bridgewater Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harleysville Savings Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Bridgewater Bancshares	0	2	2	0	2.50

Bridgewater Bancshares has a consensus target price of $20.50, indicating a potential upside of 23.35%. Given Bridgewater Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bridgewater Bancshares is more favorable than Harleysville Savings Financial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.2% of Harleysville Savings Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.8% of Bridgewater Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 14.5% of Harleysville Savings Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.3% of Bridgewater Bancshares 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Harleysville Savings Financial and Bridgewater Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Harleysville Savings Financial	$43.61 million	2.05	$9.53 million	$2.61	9.52
Bridgewater Bancshares	$253.27 million	1.80	$32.83 million	$1.33	12.50

Bridgewater Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Harleysville Savings Financial. Harleysville Savings Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bridgewater Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Bridgewater Bancshares beats Harleysville Savings Financial on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Harleysville Savings Financial

Harleysville Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Harleysville Bank that provides various banking products and services in Pennsylvania. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, money market, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. It also provides consumer loans, including residential mortgages, savings account loans, and home equity line of credit, construction, and non-real estate consumer loans; and commercial loans, such as commercial mortgages, line of credit, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers online banking and bill payment, mobile and telephone banking, remote deposit, debit cards, automated clearing house processing, sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, employee services, and other cash management services. Further, it provides investment services, such as financial consultation, cash and wealth management, education planning, investment strategy, insurance, retirement and estate planning, financial and goal planning, and asset allocation services, as well as offers investment products, such as fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, life insurances, stocks and bonds, tax-advantaged investments, long-term care insurances, disability insurances, retirement plans/individual retirement accounts, wrap accounts, and unit investment trusts. Its primary market area includes Montgomery County and Bucks County. The company was formerly known as Harleysville Savings Financial Corporation and changed its name to Harleysville Financial Corporation in May 2017. Harleysville Financial Corporation was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.

About Bridgewater Bancshares

Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bridgewater Bank that provides banking products and services to commercial real estate investors, entrepreneurs, business clients, and individuals in the United States. The company provides savings and money market accounts, demand deposits, time and brokered deposits, and interest and noninterest bearing transaction, as well as certificates of deposit. It offers commercial loans to sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and other business enterprises to finance working capital, capital investment, or for other business related purposes; paycheck protection program loans; construction and land development loans; 1-4 family mortgage loans; multifamily lending products; owner and non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company online, mobile, and direct banking services. Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota.