Head to Head Survey: California BanCorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) vs. American Business Bank (OTCMKTS:AMBZ)

California BanCorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) and American Business Bank (OTCMKTS:AMBZ) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

55.4% of California BanCorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.9% of American Business Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.8% of California BanCorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

California BanCorp has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Business Bank has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for California BanCorp and American Business Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
California BanCorp	0	0	3	2	3.40
American Business Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

California BanCorp currently has a consensus target price of $20.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.54%. Given California BanCorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe California BanCorp is more favorable than American Business Bank.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares California BanCorp and American Business Bank”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
California BanCorp	$179.82 million	3.50	$5.43 million	$1.94	10.03
American Business Bank	$183.26 million	2.96	$43.28 million	$5.58	10.93

American Business Bank has higher revenue and earnings than California BanCorp. California BanCorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Business Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares California BanCorp and American Business Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
California BanCorp	26.26%	11.85%	1.59%
American Business Bank	26.10%	N/A	N/A

Summary

California BanCorp beats American Business Bank on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About California BanCorp

Southern California Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A. that provides various financial products to individuals, professionals, and small-to medium-sized businesses. The company offers checking, personal and business savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides home equity lines of credit, business loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate and construction loans, small business administration loans, letters of credit, and personal and business credit cards. In addition, the company provides cash vault, sweep accounts, and remote deposit capture services; online and mobile banking services; courier service; lockbox services; and merchant services. It operates branches in San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties, as well as the Inland Empire. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About American Business Bank

American Business Bank, a California-chartered bank, provides banking products and services to small and medium-sized firms, non-profits, business executives, and professionals in Southern California. The company offers credit and depository; treasury management; asset-based lending; SBA lending; international banking comprising money transfers, import and export commercial letters of credit, standby letters of credit, documentary and clean collections, and foreign currency exchange services; and consulting and referral services. It operates regional loan production offices located in North Orange County, Orange County, South Bay, San Fernando Valley, Riverside County, Inland Empire, and Long Beach. American Business Bank was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.