Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) and AMB Financial (OTCMKTS:AMFC) Critical Contrast

AMB Financial (OTCMKTS:AMFC) and Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for AMB Financial and Banner, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AMB Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Banner	0	3	4	0	2.57

Banner has a consensus price target of $71.17, indicating a potential upside of 17.28%. Given Banner’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Banner is more favorable than AMB Financial.

Volatility and Risk

AMB Financial has a beta of 0.17, indicating that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banner has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.2% of AMB Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.3% of Banner shares are held by institutional investors. 37.7% of AMB Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Banner shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

AMB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Banner pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Banner pays out 35.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares AMB Financial and Banner’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AMB Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A
Banner	22.26%	10.46%	1.21%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AMB Financial and Banner”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AMB Financial	$23.37 million	1.28	$3.42 million	N/A	N/A
Banner	$877.77 million	2.36	$195.38 million	$5.64	10.76

Banner has higher revenue and earnings than AMB Financial.

Summary

Banner beats AMB Financial on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AMB Financial

AMB Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for American Community Bank of Indiana that provides financial services to customers in Indiana. The company provides savings, checking, health savings, individual retirement, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It offers business checking accounts, business debit and credit cards, and order business checks. In addition, the company offers mortgage loans, home equity loans, construction/lot loans, community loans, vehicle loans, and loan servicing; and commercial loans, commercial real estate loans, and SBA loans. Further, it provides merchant, remote deposit, wire services, fraud protection, and ACH origination; sweep services, zero balance accounts, lockbox services, vault services, and wealth management services; online, mobile, voice, and banking services; money order and e-statement services; cashier’s checks; and safe deposit boxes. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Saint John, Indiana.

About Banner

Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank that engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial products and services to individuals, businesses, and public sector entities in the United States. It accepts various deposit instruments, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, regular savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as treasury management services and retirement savings plans. The company also provides commercial real estate loans, including owner-occupied, investment properties, and multifamily residential real estate loans; construction, land, and land development loans; one- to four-family residential real estate lending; commercial business loans; agricultural loans; consumer and other loans, such as home equity lines of credit, automobile, and boat and recreational vehicle loans, as well as loans secured by deposit accounts; and small business administration loans. In addition, it provides electronic and digital banking services comprising debit cards and ATMs, internet banking, remote deposit, and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1890 and is based in Walla Walla, Washington.