Reviewing Northeast Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:NECB) & West Shore Bank (OTCMKTS:WSSH)

West Shore Bank (OTCMKTS:WSSH) and Northeast Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:NECB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for West Shore Bank and Northeast Community Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Shore Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
Northeast Community Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

53.3% of Northeast Community Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of Northeast Community Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

West Shore Bank has a beta of 0.06, suggesting that its share price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northeast Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares West Shore Bank and Northeast Community Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Shore Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
Northeast Community Bancorp	27.97%	13.43%	2.23%

Dividends

West Shore Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Northeast Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Northeast Community Bancorp pays out 24.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Northeast Community Bancorp has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Northeast Community Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares West Shore Bank and Northeast Community Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Shore Bank	$36.87 million	1.15	$4.41 million	N/A	N/A
Northeast Community Bancorp	$162.80 million	1.89	$47.07 million	$3.27	6.71

Northeast Community Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than West Shore Bank.

Summary

Northeast Community Bancorp beats West Shore Bank on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Shore Bank

West Shore Bank Corp. operates as the bank holding company for West Shore Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses. The company accepts checking, saving, money market, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. Its loan products include auto, recreational, personal term, commercial real estate, small business administration, municipal, business term, and home mortgage and equity loans; business lines of credit; and letters of credit. The company also offers ATM/debit, credit, and gift and travel cards; wealth planning process, investment management, trusts and estates, retirement planning, west shore investment services; savings bonds; and direct deposit, overdraft, safe deposit boxes, wire transfer, remote deposit capture, merchant card, ACH and wire, sweep accounts, positive pay, bill pay, and online and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1898 and is based in Ludington, Michigan.

About Northeast Community Bancorp

Northeast Community Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for NorthEast Community Bank that provides financial services for individuals and businesses. It accepts various deposit instruments, including checking accounts, money market accounts, regular savings accounts, and non-interest bearing demand accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also offers construction, commercial and industrial, multifamily and mixed-use real estate, non-residential real estate loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it invests in various types of liquid assets, including U.S. Treasury obligations, municipal securities, deposits at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and certificates of deposit of federally insured institutions, as well as securities of various federal agencies, and of state and municipal governments. Further, the company offers financial planning and investment advisory services; and life insurance products and fixed-rate annuities. It operates full-service branches located in Bronx, New York, Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan Counties in New York and Essex, Middlesex, and Norfolk Counties in Massachusetts; and loan production offices located in White Plains, New York, and New City counties in New York and Danvers, Massachusetts. Northeast Community Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in White Plains, New York.