Reviewing OP Bancorp (NASDAQ:OPBK) & LINKBANCORP (NASDAQ:LNKB)

OP Bancorp (NASDAQ:OPBK) and LINKBANCORP (NASDAQ:LNKB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for OP Bancorp and LINKBANCORP, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OP Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
LINKBANCORP	0	1	0	0	2.00

LINKBANCORP has a consensus price target of $7.50, suggesting a potential upside of 21.95%. Given LINKBANCORP’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe LINKBANCORP is more favorable than OP Bancorp.

Dividends

OP Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. LINKBANCORP pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. OP Bancorp pays out 34.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LINKBANCORP pays out -115.4% 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.

Profitability

This table compares OP Bancorp and LINKBANCORP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OP Bancorp	15.50%	11.44%	1.00%
LINKBANCORP	-5.10%	5.47%	0.56%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares OP Bancorp and LINKBANCORP’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OP Bancorp	$135.85 million	1.02	$23.92 million	$1.40	6.65
LINKBANCORP	$66.29 million	3.47	-$11.97 million	($0.26)	-23.65

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

53.6% of OP Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.5% of LINKBANCORP shares are held by institutional investors. 21.3% of OP Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 35.8% of LINKBANCORP shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

OP Bancorp has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LINKBANCORP has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

OP Bancorp beats LINKBANCORP on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OP Bancorp

OP Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Open Bank that provides banking products and services in California. It offers demand, checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate, small business administration, commercial and industrial business, single-family residential, term, consumer, and home mortgage loans; trade financing products; and letters of credit, and SWIFT and export advice. In addition, it offers debit and credit card, online transfer and bill payment, electronic delivery of customer statements, and mobile banking solutions for iPhone and Android phones, including remote check deposit with mobile bill pay; direct deposits, cashier's checks, person to person payments, wire transfers, and automated clearing house (ACH) services; and cash management services, including balance reporting, transfers between accounts, wire transfer initiation, ACH origination, and stop payment services, as well as remote deposit capture, positive pay, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. The company operates full branch offices in Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles Fashion District, Los Angeles Koreatown, Gardena, Buena Park, and Santa Clara in California; and Carrollton, Texas; and operates loan production offices in Pleasanton, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Aurora, Colorado; and Lynnwood in Washington. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About LINKBANCORP

LINKBANCORP, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for The Gratz Bank, that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, nonprofit, and business customers in Pennsylvania. Its deposit products include demand, saving, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also offers commercial real estate, commercial business, commercial real estate construction, land development, residential real estate, home equity, consumer, agricultural, and municipal loans. It also provides online banking, mobile banking, direct and remote deposit, and cash management services. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.