Northeast Indiana Bancorp (OTCMKTS:NIDB) versus Sterling Bancorp (NASDAQ:SBT) Critical Contrast

Sterling Bancorp (NASDAQ:SBT) and Northeast Indiana Bancorp (OTCMKTS:NIDB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Sterling Bancorp and Northeast Indiana Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sterling Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Northeast Indiana Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.4% of Sterling Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Sterling Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of Northeast Indiana Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Sterling Bancorp has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northeast Indiana Bancorp has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sterling Bancorp and Northeast Indiana Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sterling Bancorp	5.79%	2.41%	0.31%
Northeast Indiana Bancorp	13.31%	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sterling Bancorp and Northeast Indiana Bancorp’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sterling Bancorp	$129.57 million	1.95	$7.41 million	$0.16	30.38
Northeast Indiana Bancorp	$27.36 million	1.33	$4.26 million	$2.05	7.31

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

Summary

Sterling Bancorp beats Northeast Indiana Bancorp on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sterling Bancorp

Sterling Bancorp, Inc. is a unitary thrift holding company. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Sterling Bank and Trust, F.S.B., has primary branch operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California and New York City, and a loan production office in Seattle, Washington. Sterling offers a broad range of loan products to the residential and commercial markets, as well as retail and business banking services. Sterling also has an operations center and a branch in Southfield, Michigan. Sterling was named as the top performing community bank in the United States with total assets between $1 billion and $10 billion in 2017 by SNL/S&P Global Market Intelligence.

About Northeast Indiana Bancorp

Northeast Indiana Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First Federal Savings Bank that provides various banking and financial advisory services. The company offers checking accounts, savings accounts, retirement accounts, health savings accounts, and direct deposits, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides mortgage, refinance, new construction, and home equity loans; auto, recreational vehicle, and unsecured loans; and revolving lines of credit, term loans, real estate loans, letter of credit, and small business administration loans, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, the company offers merchant, online banking, and cash management services. It operates through full-service locations in Huntington, Warsaw, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Huntington, Indiana.