Head-To-Head Comparison: C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) versus PCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCB)

C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) and PCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.0% of PCB Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of C&F Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.0% of PCB Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. PCB Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. C&F Financial pays out 29.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PCB Bancorp pays out 46.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares C&F Financial and PCB Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
C&F Financial	$170.13 million	1.43	$19.92 million	$6.03	12.45
PCB Bancorp	$99.71 million	2.77	$25.81 million	$1.74	11.12

PCB Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than C&F Financial. PCB Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than C&F Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for C&F Financial and PCB Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
C&F Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
PCB Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00

PCB Bancorp has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.70%. Given PCB Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PCB Bancorp is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Profitability

This table compares C&F Financial and PCB Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
C&F Financial	11.67%	8.97%	0.79%
PCB Bancorp	13.45%	9.02%	0.90%

Volatility & Risk

C&F Financial has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PCB Bancorp has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PCB Bancorp beats C&F Financial on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.

About PCB Bancorp

PCB Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for PCB Bank that provides various banking products and services to small to medium-sized businesses, individuals, and professionals in Southern California. The company offers demand, savings, money market, and time deposits, as well as certificates of deposit; and trade finance, remote deposit capture, courier deposit services, positive pay services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. It also provides real estate loans, including commercial and residential, Small Business Administration (SBA) property, and construction loans; commercial and industrial loans, such as commercial term and lines of credit, SBA commercial term, and SBA Paycheck Protection Program loans; and consumer loans comprising residential mortgage; and automobile loans, unsecured lines of credit, and term loans. In addition, the company offers access to account balances, online transfers, and online bill payment and electronic delivery of customer statements; and mobile banking solutions that include remote check deposit and mobile bill pay. Further, it provides automated teller machines; and banking by telephone, mail, personal appointment, debit cards, direct deposit, and cashier's checks, as well as treasury management, wire transfer, and automated clearing house services. The company operates through a network of full-service branches in Los Angeles and Orange counties, California; Carrollton and Dallas, Texas; and Englewood Cliffs and Palisade Park, New Jersey, and Bayside, New York. It also operates loan production offices in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California; Annandale, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Bellevue, Washington; Aurora, Colorado; and Carrollton, Texas. The company was formerly known as Pacific City Financial Corporation and changed its name to PCB Bancorp in July 2019. PCB Bancorp was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.