Critical Review: Blue Valley Ban (OTCMKTS:BVBC) & Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI)

Blue Valley Ban (OTCMKTS:BVBC) and Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Blue Valley Ban and Customers Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blue Valley Ban	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers Bancorp	17.38%	17.09%	1.22%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.3% of Customers Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 39.8% of Blue Valley Ban shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of Customers Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Blue Valley Ban and Customers Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blue Valley Ban	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers Bancorp	$1.44 billion	1.04	$250.14 million	$7.43	6.37

Customers Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Blue Valley Ban.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Blue Valley Ban and Customers Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blue Valley Ban	0	0	0	0	N/A
Customers Bancorp	0	3	4	1	2.75

Customers Bancorp has a consensus price target of $62.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.02%. Given Customers Bancorp’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Customers Bancorp is more favorable than Blue Valley Ban.

Summary

Customers Bancorp beats Blue Valley Ban on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blue Valley Ban

Blue Valley Ban Corp. operates as the holding company for Bank of Blue Valley that provides a range of banking services to consumer and commercial customers in Johnson County, Kansas. It accepts various deposit products, including time and demand deposits, checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, NOW accounts, and money market accounts; and provides commercial loans, commercial real estate loans, residential real estate loans, construction loans, home equity loans, working capital financing, and consumer loans, as well as lease financing. The company also offers wealth management services, including financial planning, private banking, trust, and investment services; debit and credit cards; and online and mobile banking services. It serves customers through five locations, including Overland Park, Olathe, Shawnee, Leawood, and Lenexa. Blue Valley Ban Corp. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its lending business offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and multifamily and residential mortgage loans; SBA lending and financing; specialty lending includes fund finance, real estate specialty finance, technology and venture, and healthcare and financial institutions group; commercial loans to mortgage companies, and commercial equipment financing; and fund finance, such as variable rate loans secured by collateral pools to private debt funds; and cash management services. In addition, the company provides digital banking including Banking-as-a-Service to fintech companies, payments and treasury services to businesses, and consumer loans through fintech companies and the TassatPay, a blockchain-based instant B2B payments platform which offers instant payments including over-the-counter desks, exchanges, liquidity providers, market makers, funds, and other B2B verticals. Further, it offers mobile phone and internet banking, wire transfers, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, courier, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, positive pay, and cash management services, such as account reconciliation, collections, and sweep accounts. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in West Reading, Pennsylvania.