Critical Review: Frederick County Bancorp (MD) (OTCMKTS:FCBI) and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL)

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana and Frederick County Bancorp (MD)”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	$19.47 million	2.09	$3.59 million	$1.09	11.92
Frederick County Bancorp (MD)	$18.62 million	3.11	$2.96 million	N/A	N/A

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has higher revenue and earnings than Frederick County Bancorp (MD).

Dividends

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Frederick County Bancorp (MD) pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays out 47.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

21.1% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.6% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.2% of Frederick County Bancorp (MD) shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana and Frederick County Bancorp (MD)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	10.12%	6.24%	0.53%
Frederick County Bancorp (MD)	11.41%	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Frederick County Bancorp (MD) has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana beats Frederick County Bancorp (MD) on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank that provides various financial services to individuals, corporate entities, and other organizations. The company accepts various deposits, such as passbook savings, certificates of deposit, and demand deposit accounts. Its loan products include one-to-four family residential real estate loans; commercial real estate secured loans; multi-family residential loans; commercial business loans; land loans; construction loans; home equity and second mortgage loans; lines of credit; and consumer non-real estate loans, including loans secured by deposit accounts, automobile loans, overdrafts, and other unsecured loans. The company operates through branches in Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, and Benton, Louisiana. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Shreveport, Louisiana.

About Frederick County Bancorp (MD)

Frederick County Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Frederick County Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and commercial enterprises in the Frederick County, Maryland. It offers deposit products, including personal checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and health savings accounts; and business checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposits. The company provides home equity, home equity fixed rate, mortgage, installment, vehicle, and unsecured loans, as well as home equity line of credit and lines of credit; and commercial loans, such as term loans, lines of credit, letters of credit, and real estate finance. It also offers cash management services comprising automated clearing house, wire origination, remote deposit capture, and zero balance account services. In addition, the company provides mobile deposit capture, overdraft protection, debit and credit card, automated teller machine, and night depository services; and business courier and merchant processing services, as well as online banking and bill pay services. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.