Head to Head Analysis: Pacific Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:PVBK) versus National Bank (NYSE:NBHC)

National Bank (NYSE:NBHC) and Pacific Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:PVBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings and risk.

Volatility & Risk

National Bank has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for National Bank and Pacific Valley Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Bank	0	2	2	0	2.50
Pacific Valley Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

National Bank currently has a consensus price target of $38.63, indicating a potential downside of 1.97%. Given National Bank’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe National Bank is more favorable than Pacific Valley Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.7% of National Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.8% of Pacific Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of National Bank 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares National Bank and Pacific Valley Bancorp’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Bank	$559.33 million	2.66	$142.05 million	$3.48	11.32
Pacific Valley Bancorp	$27.51 million	1.65	$4.85 million	$0.97	9.56

National Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Valley Bancorp. Pacific Valley Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares National Bank and Pacific Valley Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Bank	22.94%	11.20%	1.34%
Pacific Valley Bancorp	16.73%	N/A	N/A

Summary

National Bank beats Pacific Valley Bancorp on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About National Bank

National Bank Holdings Corporation operates as the bank holding company for NBH Bank that provides various banking products and financial services to commercial, business, and consumer clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts, including fixed-rate and fixed maturity time deposits. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans and leases, such as working capital loans, equipment loans, lender finance loans, food and agriculture loans, government and non-profit loans, owner occupied commercial real estate loans, and other commercial loans and leases; non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans consisting of loans on commercial properties, such as office buildings, warehouse/distribution buildings, multi-family, hospitality, and retail buildings; small business administration loans to support small businesses and entrepreneurs; term loans, line of credits, and real estate secured loans; residential real estate loans; and consumer loans. In addition, it offers treasury management solutions comprising online and mobile banking, commercial credit card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, and fraud prevention services, as well as other auxiliary services, including account reconciliation, collections, repurchase accounts, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. The company operates through a network of banking centers located in Colorado, the greater Kansas City region, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Texas. It also operates ATMs. The company was formerly known as NBH Holdings Corp. and changed its name to National Bank Holdings Corporation in March 2012. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

About Pacific Valley Bancorp

Pacific Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Valley Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company offers personal and business banking, including checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and online solutions, such as online and mobile banking, bill pay, remote deposit capture, positive pay, e-statements, and order checks. It also provides commercial or agriculture lines of credit, commercial or agriculture terms loans, commercial constructions loans, agriculture production lending, and government guaranteed loan programs; and debit card, incoming wire instructions, ATM locator, fraud prevention, identity theft, and FDIC insurance estimator services. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Salinas, California.