Reviewing Auburn National Bancorporation (NASDAQ:AUBN) and Old Second Bancorp (NASDAQ:OSBC)

Auburn National Bancorporation (NASDAQ:AUBN) and Old Second Bancorp (NASDAQ:OSBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Auburn National Bancorporation and Old Second Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Auburn National Bancorporation	0	0	0	0	0.00
Old Second Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00

Old Second Bancorp has a consensus target price of $18.88, suggesting a potential upside of 6.16%. Given Old Second Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Old Second Bancorp is more favorable than Auburn National Bancorporation.

Dividends

Auburn National Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Old Second Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Auburn National Bancorporation pays out 432.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Old Second Bancorp pays out 13.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Auburn National Bancorporation has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Auburn National Bancorporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

39.5% of Auburn National Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.8% of Old Second Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 24.4% of Auburn National Bancorporation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Old Second Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Auburn National Bancorporation and Old Second Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Auburn National Bancorporation	2.43%	1.10%	0.09%
Old Second Bancorp	25.02%	13.81%	1.49%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Auburn National Bancorporation and Old Second Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Auburn National Bancorporation	$23.42 million	3.67	$1.39 million	$0.25	98.28
Old Second Bancorp	$276.83 million	2.88	$91.73 million	$1.85	9.61

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

Volatility and Risk

Auburn National Bancorporation has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Old Second Bancorp has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Old Second Bancorp beats Auburn National Bancorporation on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Auburn National Bancorporation

Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for AuburnBank that provides various banking products and services in East Alabama. The company offers checking, savings, and transaction deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial, financial, agricultural, real estate construction, and consumer loan products; and other financial services. In addition, the company offers automated teller services; debit cards; online banking, bill payment, and other electronic banking services; and safe deposit boxes. Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Auburn, Alabama.

About Old Second Bancorp

Old Second Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Old Second National Bank that provides community banking services. It offers demand, NOW, money market, savings, time deposit, individual retirement, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides commercial loans; lease financing receivables; commercial real estate loans; construction loans; residential real estate loans, such as residential first mortgage and second mortgage loans; home equity line of credit; consumer loans, including motor vehicle, home improvement, and signature loans; installment and agricultural loans; residential mortgages; and overdraft checking. In addition, it offers safe deposit services; trust and wealth management services; and money orders, cashier’s checks, foreign currency, direct deposits, discount brokerage, debit and credit cards, and other services, as well as acquires the U.S. treasury notes and bonds. Further, the company provides online and mobile banking; corporate cash management products, including remote and mobile deposits capture, investment sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, automated tax payments, automatic teller machines access, telephone banking, lockbox accounts, automated clearing house transactions, account reconciliation, controlled disbursement, detail and general information reporting, foreign and domestic wire transfers, and vault services for currency and coin; and investment, agency, and custodial services for individual, corporate, and not-for-profit clients. Old Second Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Aurora, Illinois.