West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC) versus ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Financial Comparison

West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC) and ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.7% of West Coast Community Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.3% of ServisFirst Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of ServisFirst Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

West Coast Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. ServisFirst Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. West Coast Community Bancorp pays out 16.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ServisFirst Bancshares pays out 33.1% 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. West Coast Community Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

West Coast Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ServisFirst Bancshares has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for West Coast Community Bancorp and ServisFirst Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Coast Community Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
ServisFirst Bancshares	0	2	0	0	2.00

ServisFirst Bancshares has a consensus price target of $73.00, indicating a potential downside of 11.01%. Given ServisFirst Bancshares’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ServisFirst Bancshares is more favorable than West Coast Community Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares West Coast Community Bancorp and ServisFirst Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Coast Community Bancorp	33.74%	N/A	N/A
ServisFirst Bancshares	21.25%	14.19%	1.29%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares West Coast Community Bancorp and ServisFirst Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Coast Community Bancorp	$98.49 million	4.08	$35.15 million	$4.20	9.11
ServisFirst Bancshares	$843.66 million	5.30	$206.85 million	$3.62	22.66

ServisFirst Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than West Coast Community Bancorp. West Coast Community Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ServisFirst Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

ServisFirst Bancshares beats West Coast Community Bancorp on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Coast Community Bancorp

West Coast Community Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Santa Cruz County Bank that provides a range of commercial and personal banking services to residents and businesses in the United States. It offers checking, savings, money market, certificate of deposits, and health savings accounts; and individual retirement account and retirement plans. The company also provides lending products, including real estate commercial property, construction, asset-based, lines of credit, SBA loans, 504 loan program, business and industry, farm services agency, agricultural, and wine industry lending. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, merchant services, online and mobile banking, remote deposit services, wire and ACH manager, treasury management, payment, and cash management services. West Coast Community Bancorp was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. It accepts demand, time, savings, and other deposits; checking, money market, and IRA accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products include commercial lending products, including seasonal, bridge, and term loans for working capital, expansion of the business, acquisition of property, and plant and equipment, as well as commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, vehicle financing, loans secured by deposits, and secured and unsecured personal loans. It also offers other banking products and services comprising telephone and mobile banking, Internet banking, direct deposit, traveler's checks, safe deposit boxes, attorney trust accounts, automatic account transfers, automated teller machines, and debit and credit card systems; treasury and cash management services; wire transfer, night depository, banking-by-mail, and remote capture services; and correspondent banking services to other financial institutions. In addition, the company holds and manages participations in residential mortgages and commercial real estate loans originated by ServisFirst Bank in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.