Critical Comparison: Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) vs. Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI)

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) and Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Customers Bancorp and Equity Bancshares’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Customers Bancorp	$1.44 billion	1.07	$250.14 million	$7.31	6.69
Equity Bancshares	$227.58 million	2.22	$7.82 million	$0.60	54.57

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.3% of Customers Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of Equity Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 9.4% of Customers Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Equity Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Customers Bancorp and Equity Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Customers Bancorp	0	1	5	1	3.00
Equity Bancshares	0	2	0	0	2.00

Customers Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $61.86, suggesting a potential upside of 26.39%. Equity Bancshares has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential downside of 8.37%. Given Customers Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Customers Bancorp is more favorable than Equity Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Customers Bancorp and Equity Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Customers Bancorp	17.23%	18.75%	1.19%
Equity Bancshares	3.88%	12.27%	1.05%

Volatility and Risk

Customers Bancorp has a beta of 1.67, suggesting that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Bancshares has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Customers Bancorp beats Equity Bancshares on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its lending business offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and multifamily and residential mortgage loans; SBA lending and financing; specialty lending includes fund finance, real estate specialty finance, technology and venture, and healthcare and financial institutions group; commercial loans to mortgage companies, and commercial equipment financing; and fund finance, such as variable rate loans secured by collateral pools to private debt funds; and cash management services. In addition, the company provides digital banking including Banking-as-a-Service to fintech companies, payments and treasury services to businesses, and consumer loans through fintech companies and the TassatPay, a blockchain-based instant B2B payments platform which offers instant payments including over-the-counter desks, exchanges, liquidity providers, market makers, funds, and other B2B verticals. Further, it offers mobile phone and internet banking, wire transfers, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, courier, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, positive pay, and cash management services, such as account reconciliation, collections, and sweep accounts. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment and aircraft financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products. The company's loan products also comprise 1 4 family residential mortgages, agriculture, consumer, residential real estate mortgage, and agricultural real estate and production loans. It also provides debit and credit cards; insurance brokerage; trust and wealth management; online banking solutions, such as access to account balances, online transfers, online bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements; mobile banking solutions comprising remote check deposits with mobile bill pay; ATMs; and treasury management, wire transfer, automated clearing house, and stop payment services. In addition, the company offers cash management deposit products, such as lockbox, remote deposit capture, positive pay, reverse positive pay, account reconciliation services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts, as well as banking services through telephone, mail, and personal appointments. It operates a network of branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Equity Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.