Reviewing Chemung Financial (NASDAQ:CHMG) and Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY)

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) and Chemung Financial (NASDAQ:CHMG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Oak Valley Bancorp and Chemung Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oak Valley Bancorp	$87.30 million	2.47	$30.85 million	$3.00	8.58
Chemung Financial	$137.62 million	1.63	$25.00 million	$4.52	10.42

Oak Valley Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Chemung Financial. Oak Valley Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chemung Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Oak Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chemung Financial has a beta of 0.19, meaning that its share price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Oak Valley Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Chemung Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Oak Valley Bancorp pays out 15.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chemung Financial pays out 27.4% 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

30.9% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.5% of Chemung Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.3% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of Chemung Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Oak Valley Bancorp and Chemung Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oak Valley Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Chemung Financial	0	2	0	0	2.00

Chemung Financial has a consensus price target of $58.50, indicating a potential upside of 24.20%. Given Chemung Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chemung Financial is more favorable than Oak Valley Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Oak Valley Bancorp and Chemung Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oak Valley Bancorp	28.03%	14.38%	1.34%
Chemung Financial	14.56%	10.60%	0.78%

Summary

Oak Valley Bancorp beats Chemung Financial on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial real estate loans, commercial business lending and trade finance, and small business administration lending, as well as consumer loans, including automobile loans, home mortgages, credit lines, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides online and mobile banking, remote deposit capture, merchant, night depository, extended hours, wire transfer of funds, note collection services, and automated teller machines. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Oakdale, California.

About Chemung Financial

Chemung Financial Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Chemung Canal Trust Company that provides a range of banking, financing, fiduciary, and other financial services. The company provides demand, savings, and time deposits; non-interest and interest-bearing checking accounts; and insured money market accounts. It also offers commercial and agricultural loans comprising loans to small to mid-sized businesses; commercial and residential mortgage loans; and consumer loans, including home equity lines of credit and home equity term loans. In addition, the company provides interest rate swaps, letters of credit, employee benefit plans, insurance products, mutual fund, brokerage, and tax preparation services. Further, it offers guardian, custodian, trustee, investment, pension, estate planning, and employee benefit administrative services, as well as acts as an agent for pension, profit-sharing, and other employee benefit trusts. Chemung Financial Corporation was founded in 1833 and is headquartered in Elmira, New York.