Reviewing CB Financial Services (NASDAQ:CBFV) and Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT)

CB Financial Services (NASDAQ:CBFV) and Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

CB Financial Services has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stock Yards Bancorp has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CB Financial Services and Stock Yards Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CB Financial Services	15.43%	7.45%	0.70%
Stock Yards Bancorp	22.54%	12.71%	1.38%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

33.1% of CB Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 9.4% of CB Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CB Financial Services and Stock Yards Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CB Financial Services	0	2	0	0	2.00
Stock Yards Bancorp	0	4	0	0	2.00

CB Financial Services presently has a consensus target price of $26.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.37%. Stock Yards Bancorp has a consensus target price of $69.25, suggesting a potential downside of 1.09%. Given Stock Yards Bancorp’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Stock Yards Bancorp is more favorable than CB Financial Services.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CB Financial Services and Stock Yards Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CB Financial Services	$49.14 million	3.06	$12.59 million	$2.39	12.27
Stock Yards Bancorp	$345.11 million	5.98	$114.54 million	$3.89	18.00

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

Dividends

CB Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Stock Yards Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. CB Financial Services pays out 41.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stock Yards Bancorp pays out 31.9% 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. Stock Yards Bancorp has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Summary

Stock Yards Bancorp beats CB Financial Services on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CB Financial Services

CB Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The company's primary deposit products include demand deposits, NOW accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, as well as time deposit products. Its loan products comprise residential real estate loans, such as one- to four-family mortgage loans, home equity installment loans, and home equity lines of credit; commercial real estate loans that are secured primarily by improved properties, such as retail facilities, office buildings, and other non-residential buildings; construction loans to individuals to finance the construction of residential dwellings, as well as for the construction of commercial properties, including hotels, apartment buildings, housing developments, and owner-occupied properties used for businesses; commercial and industrial loans, and lines of credit; consumer loans consisting of indirect auto loans, secured and unsecured loans, and lines of credit; and other loans. In addition, the company conducts insurance agency activities by offering property and casualty, commercial liability, surety, and other insurance products. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services. This segment also provides securities brokerage services through an arrangement with a third party broker-dealer. The WM&T segment provides investment management, financial and retirement planning, and trust and estate services, as well as retirement plan management for businesses and corporations. It provides services in Louisville, central, eastern, and northern Kentucky, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan markets. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.