Private Bancorp of America (OTCMKTS:PBAM) and JSB Financial (OTCMKTS:JFWV) Critical Analysis

JSB Financial (OTCMKTS:JFWV) and Private Bancorp of America (OTCMKTS:PBAM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.1% of JSB Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.5% of Private Bancorp of America shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for JSB Financial and Private Bancorp of America, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JSB Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Private Bancorp of America	0	0	1	0	3.00

Private Bancorp of America has a consensus target price of $53.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.95%. Given Private Bancorp of America’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Private Bancorp of America is more favorable than JSB Financial.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares JSB Financial and Private Bancorp of America”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JSB Financial	N/A	N/A	$3.00 million	$16.01	5.62
Private Bancorp of America	$130.58 million	2.32	$40.86 million	$5.70	9.21

Private Bancorp of America has higher revenue and earnings than JSB Financial. JSB Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Private Bancorp of America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

JSB Financial has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Private Bancorp of America has a beta of 0.19, indicating that its stock price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares JSB Financial and Private Bancorp of America’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JSB Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A
Private Bancorp of America	21.37%	16.57%	1.46%

Summary

Private Bancorp of America beats JSB Financial on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About JSB Financial

JSB Financial Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Jefferson Security Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, agricultural businesses, small and medium-sized businesses, local government entities, and non-profit organizations. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, individual retirement, overdraft protection, and sweep accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company's loan portfolio includes personal and vehicle, mortgage, construction, commercial, and home equity loans. It also offers ATM, online and mobile banking, bill pay, paperless statements, cash management, remote deposit capture, merchant, and credit and debit card services. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

About Private Bancorp of America

Private Bancorp of America, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for CalPrivate Bank that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in California. The company offers checking and savings, money market, certificate of deposit, sweep, zero balance, and individual retirement accounts; unsecured lines of credit, personal credit lines, and term loans; additional services, such as direct deposits, online banking, ATM and debit cards, credit cards, savings/line of credit overdraft protection, and safe deposit boxes; and certificate of deposit account registry services. It also provides treasury management, merchant card, bill pay, positive pay, e-statement, remote deposit capture, ACH origination, wire transfer, electronic payments and collections, electronic check acceptance, account reconciliation, cash vault, and gift and business credit cards, as well as funds management services. In addition, the company offers term credit facilities and loans, equipment and business expansion loans, working capital lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction financing, letters of credit, business start-up loans, loans for business acquisition and partner buyouts, owner-occupied commercial real estate loans, equipment, furniture and fixture, and other loans; and CDARS And ICS products. Further, it provides wealth management and legal services. The company has offices in La Jolla, San Diego, Coronado, Newport Beach, Beverly Hills, El Segundo, Temecula, Mission Valley, and Redlands. Private Bancorp of America, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in La Jolla, California.