Reviewing Prime Meridian (OTCMKTS:PMHG) and Fifth District Bancorp (NASDAQ:FDSB)

Fifth District Bancorp (NASDAQ:FDSB) and Prime Meridian (OTCMKTS:PMHG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Fifth District Bancorp and Prime Meridian, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fifth District Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
Prime Meridian	0	0	0	0	0.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.8% of Prime Meridian shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Fifth District Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.9% of Prime Meridian shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Fifth District Bancorp has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prime Meridian has a beta of 0.06, indicating that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fifth District Bancorp and Prime Meridian”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fifth District Bancorp	$19.29 million	4.33	-$1.08 million	$0.73	20.71
Prime Meridian	$50.36 million	3.78	$8.49 million	$2.48	22.58

Prime Meridian has higher revenue and earnings than Fifth District Bancorp. Fifth District Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prime Meridian, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Fifth District Bancorp and Prime Meridian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fifth District Bancorp	14.27%	2.88%	0.69%
Prime Meridian	15.49%	9.13%	0.87%

Summary

Prime Meridian beats Fifth District Bancorp on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fifth District Bancorp

Fifth District Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Fifth District Savings Bank which provide all banking services. Fifth District Bancorp, Inc. is based in NEW ORLEANS.

About Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for Prime Meridian Bank that provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market, savings, term certificate of deposit, demand interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing, health savings, NOW, and escrow accounts, as well as retirement savings plans and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial real estate, residential real estate and home equity, small business administration, construction, equipment, and commercial loans; and consumer and other loans comprising financing of automobiles, boats, and recreational vehicles, as well as issues standby letters and business lines of credit. The company also offers debit and credit cards; mobile banking, remote and mobile deposit, Apple Pay, bank-to-bank transfer, and online banking services; and safe deposit, wire transfer, foreign exchange, direct deposits, notary, night depository, official checks, domestic collections, bank drafts, automated teller services, drive-in tellers, merchant card, and banking by mail services, as well as invests in securities. Prime Meridian Holding Company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.