Reviewing Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) and Woori Bank (NYSE:WF)

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) and Woori Bank (NYSE:WF) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.2% of Investar shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.4% of Woori Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.6% of Investar 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Investar and Woori Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Investar	0	2	1	0	2.33
Woori Bank	0	1	1	0	2.50

Investar presently has a consensus price target of $31.50, suggesting a potential upside of 4.70%. Given Investar’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Investar is more favorable than Woori Bank.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Investar and Woori Bank”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Investar	$119.80 million	3.46	$22.90 million	$2.43	12.38
Woori Bank	$16.27 billion	1.18	$2.16 billion	$8.68	9.00

Woori Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Investar. Woori Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Investar, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Investar pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Woori Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Investar pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Woori Bank pays out 21.2% 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. Investar has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Investar and Woori Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Investar	17.55%	11.65%	1.14%
Woori Bank	13.28%	8.18%	0.52%

Volatility and Risk

Investar has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Woori Bank has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Investar beats Woori Bank on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Investar

Investar Holding Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Investar Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in south Louisiana, southeast Texas, and Alabama in the United States. The company offers various deposit products and services, such as savings, checking, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as various certificates of deposit; debit and credit cards; internet, mobile, and video banking services; and reciprocal deposit products. It also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans, including working capital lines of credit and equipment loans; loans for the construction of commercial projects, and single family residential and multifamily properties; one-to-four family residential real estate loans, such as second mortgage loans; and consumer loans, such as secured and unsecured installment and term loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, and auto loans, as well as loans for personal, family, and household purposes. In addition, the company offers treasury management products, including remote deposit capture, lockbox payment processing, virtual vault, positive pay, ACH origination, wire transfer, investment sweep accounts, and business internet banking services. Further, it provides various other banking services, such as cashiers' checks, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, night depository, bank-by-mail, automated teller machines, electronic statements, interactive teller machines, online account opening, and mobile wallet payment services. Investar Holding Corporation was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About Woori Bank

Woori Financial Group Inc., a financial holding company, operates as a commercial bank that provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, corporations, and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Korea. It operates through Banking, Credit Card, Capital, Investment Banking, and Others segments. The company offers savings, demand, installment, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; repurchase instruments; and working capital, facilities, general purpose household, mortgage, and home equity loans. It also provides debit and credit cards, cash services, card loans, and related services; lease financing; and securities operation, sale of financial instruments, project financing, and other related solutions. In addition, the company offers credit purchase, cash advance, credit card loans, foreign exchange services and dealing, import and export-related services, offshore lending, syndicated loans and foreign currency securities investment, investment trust products, bancassurance, and private equity funds. Further, it is involved in the real estate trust, system software development and maintenance, financing, credit information, securities investment and trading, derivatives trading, trust, asset securitization, investment and international banking, money transfer, and other services. Additionally, the company offers automated telephone, internet, and mobile banking services; and trust management, trustee, and custodian services. Woori Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.