CB Financial Services (NASDAQ:CBFV) & Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Head-To-Head Comparison

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) and CB Financial Services (NASDAQ:CBFV) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Stock Yards Bancorp and CB Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stock Yards Bancorp	0	4	0	0	2.00
CB Financial Services	0	2	0	0	2.00

Stock Yards Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $69.25, suggesting a potential downside of 1.09%. CB Financial Services has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.37%. Given Stock Yards Bancorp’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Stock Yards Bancorp is more favorable than CB Financial Services.

Dividends

Stock Yards Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. CB Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Stock Yards Bancorp pays out 31.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CB Financial Services pays out 41.8% 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. Stock Yards Bancorp has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.5% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.1% of CB Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of CB Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Stock Yards Bancorp and CB Financial Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stock Yards Bancorp	$345.11 million	5.98	$114.54 million	$3.89	18.00
CB Financial Services	$49.14 million	3.06	$12.59 million	$2.39	12.27

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

Profitability

This table compares Stock Yards Bancorp and CB Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stock Yards Bancorp	22.54%	12.71%	1.38%
CB Financial Services	15.43%	7.45%	0.70%

Volatility and Risk

Stock Yards Bancorp has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CB Financial Services has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Stock Yards Bancorp beats CB Financial Services on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services. This segment also provides securities brokerage services through an arrangement with a third party broker-dealer. The WM&T segment provides investment management, financial and retirement planning, and trust and estate services, as well as retirement plan management for businesses and corporations. It provides services in Louisville, central, eastern, and northern Kentucky, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan markets. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About CB Financial Services

CB Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The company's primary deposit products include demand deposits, NOW accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, as well as time deposit products. Its loan products comprise residential real estate loans, such as one- to four-family mortgage loans, home equity installment loans, and home equity lines of credit; commercial real estate loans that are secured primarily by improved properties, such as retail facilities, office buildings, and other non-residential buildings; construction loans to individuals to finance the construction of residential dwellings, as well as for the construction of commercial properties, including hotels, apartment buildings, housing developments, and owner-occupied properties used for businesses; commercial and industrial loans, and lines of credit; consumer loans consisting of indirect auto loans, secured and unsecured loans, and lines of credit; and other loans. In addition, the company conducts insurance agency activities by offering property and casualty, commercial liability, surety, and other insurance products. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania.