Contrasting OFG Bancorp (NYSE:OFG) and West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC)

West Coast Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SCZC) and OFG Bancorp (NYSE:OFG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for West Coast Community Bancorp and OFG Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Coast Community Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
OFG Bancorp	0	0	4	0	3.00

OFG Bancorp has a consensus target price of $50.25, suggesting a potential upside of 18.47%. Given OFG Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe OFG Bancorp is more favorable than West Coast Community Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares West Coast Community Bancorp and OFG Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Coast Community Bancorp	$123.69 million	3.52	$29.58 million	$3.39	12.16
OFG Bancorp	$660.94 million	2.95	$198.17 million	$4.22	10.05

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

Profitability

This table compares West Coast Community Bancorp and OFG Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Coast Community Bancorp	23.91%	N/A	N/A
OFG Bancorp	22.71%	15.80%	1.75%

Risk and Volatility

West Coast Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OFG Bancorp has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.7% of West Coast Community Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of OFG Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of OFG Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

West Coast Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. OFG Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. West Coast Community Bancorp pays out 22.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OFG Bancorp pays out 28.4% 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.

Summary

OFG Bancorp beats West Coast Community Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Coast Community Bancorp

West Coast Community Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Santa Cruz County Bank that provides a range of commercial and personal banking services to residents and businesses in the United States. It offers checking, savings, money market, certificate of deposits, and health savings accounts; and individual retirement account and retirement plans. The company also provides lending products, including real estate commercial property, construction, asset-based, lines of credit, SBA loans, 504 loan program, business and industry, farm services agency, agricultural, and wine industry lending. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, merchant services, online and mobile banking, remote deposit services, wire and ACH manager, treasury management, payment, and cash management services. West Coast Community Bancorp was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

About OFG Bancorp

OFG Bancorp, a financial holding company, provides a range of banking and financial services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Treasury. The company offers checking and savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts; certificate of deposits, as well as time deposit products; commercial, consumer, auto leasing, and mortgage lending services; credit cards; cash management; financial planning and insurance services; and corporate and individual trust, and retirement services. In addition, it provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services, including various investment alternatives, such as tax-advantaged fixed income securities, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds to retail and institutional clients; and separately-managed accounts and mutual fund asset allocation programs. Further, the company engages in the insurance agency and reinsurance businesses; administration and servicing of retirement plans; and various treasury-related functions with an investment portfolio consisting of mortgage-backed securities, obligations of U.S. government sponsored agencies, and U.S. Treasury securities and money market instruments. Additionally, it offers money management and investment banking services; and engages in the asset/liability management activities, such as purchases and sales of investment securities, interest rate risk management, derivatives, and borrowings. The company provides investment brokerage, transactional, international trade financing, residential mortgage, and consumer finance services. OFG Bancorp was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.