Critical Survey: Catalyst Bancorp (CLST) versus The Competition

Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) is one of 919 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Catalyst Bancorp to related businesses based on the strength of its valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Catalyst Bancorp and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Catalyst Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Catalyst Bancorp Competitors	7482	30219	27791	1473	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 16.79%. Given Catalyst Bancorp’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Catalyst Bancorp has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Catalyst Bancorp and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Catalyst Bancorp	$23.69 million	$2.05 million	25.36
Catalyst Bancorp Competitors	$9.95 billion	$2.42 billion	20.28

Catalyst Bancorp’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Catalyst Bancorp. Catalyst Bancorp is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Catalyst Bancorp and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Catalyst Bancorp	12.48%	4.14%	1.18%
Catalyst Bancorp Competitors	15.66%	9.44%	0.93%

Risk and Volatility

Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.11, indicating that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Bancorp’s rivals have a beta of 0.61, indicating that their average stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by institutional investors. 10.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Catalyst Bancorp rivals beat Catalyst Bancorp on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

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.