Comparing Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) & WCF Bancorp (OTCMKTS:WCFB)

WCF Bancorp (OTCMKTS:WCFB) and Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

31.7% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of WCF Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

WCF Bancorp has a beta of 0.11, indicating that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Financial Services has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

WCF Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Peoples Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $2.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Peoples Financial Services pays out 29.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Financial Services has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Peoples Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares WCF Bancorp and Peoples Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WCF Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Peoples Financial Services	20.17%	18.32%	1.76%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for WCF Bancorp and Peoples Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WCF Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Peoples Financial Services	0	3	0	0	2.00

Peoples Financial Services has a consensus price target of $50.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.03%. Given Peoples Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Peoples Financial Services is more favorable than WCF Bancorp.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares WCF Bancorp and Peoples Financial Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WCF Bancorp	$11.85 million	1.18	-$40,000.00	N/A	N/A
Peoples Financial Services	$229.80 million	2.26	$8.50 million	$8.47	6.15

Peoples Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than WCF Bancorp.

Summary

Peoples Financial Services beats WCF Bancorp on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WCF Bancorp

WCF Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for WCF Financial Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking and saving accounts; certificates of deposit; personal, mortgage, business, agricultural, and commercial real estate loans; debit and credit cards; and other products. It operates through full-service offices in Webster City, Independence, and Tama, Iowa. The company was founded in 1934 and is based in Webster City, Iowa.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides residential real estate, automobile, manufactured housing, personal, and home equity loans; and commercial real estate, working capital, construction, small business administration, and agricultural loans, as well as loans for equipment and other commercial needs, and mineral rights. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment services; investment management, IRA trustee, estate administration, living and life insurance trust, trustee under will, guardianship, custodial/IRA custodial, and corporate trust services, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans. Further, it provides wealth management products and services comprising investment portfolio management, estate and business succession planning, annuities, insurance, retirement plan, and tax planning, as well as education funding strategies; and securities, brokerage, and investor services. Additionally, the company offers small business checking and merchant money market accounts, online and telephone banking, business credit cards, merchant line of credit, and financial checkup services; and remote deposit capture, automatic clearing house transaction, cash management, automated teller machine, point of sale transaction, safe deposit box, night depository, direct deposit, and official check services. It serves business, non-profit, governmental, municipal agency, and professional customers, as well as retail customers. Peoples Financial Services Corp. was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.