Contrasting Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) & Northeast Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBN)

Northeast Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBN) and Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.7% of Landmark Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 14.2% of Northeast Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of Landmark Bancorp 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.

Risk & Volatility

Northeast Bancorp has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Landmark Bancorp has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Northeast Bancorp and Landmark Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northeast Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50
Landmark Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Northeast Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $102.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.78%. Given Northeast Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Northeast Bancorp is more favorable than Landmark Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Northeast Bancorp and Landmark Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northeast Bancorp	24.36%	18.52%	2.12%
Landmark Bancorp	18.32%	12.44%	1.13%

Dividends

Northeast Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Landmark Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Northeast Bancorp pays out 0.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Landmark Bancorp pays out 28.2% 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. Landmark Bancorp has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Landmark Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Northeast Bancorp and Landmark Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northeast Bancorp	$351.00 million	2.48	$83.44 million	$10.64	9.96
Landmark Bancorp	$89.35 million	1.87	$13.00 million	$2.84	9.69

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

Summary

Northeast Bancorp beats Landmark Bancorp on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Northeast Bancorp

Northeast Bank provides banking services to individual and corporate customers in Maine. The company's deposit products include demand deposit, NOW, money market, savings, certificate of deposit, and individual retirement accounts, as well as checking accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises residential mortgage loans; multi-family and other commercial real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans, such as term loans, lines of credit and equipment, and receivables financing; consumer loans comprising mobile home and overdraft, and deposit-secured loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company offers telephone banking, online banking and bill payment, mobile banking, cash management, and remote deposit capture services, as well as debit and credit card, ATM, electronic transfer, and check services. Further, it provides various services, such as money market, merchant, and payroll and HR. Northeast Bank was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.

About Landmark Bancorp

Landmark Bancorp, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for Landmark National Bank that provides various financial and banking services to its local communities. It offers non-interest bearing demand, money market, checking, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides one-to-four family residential real estate, construction and land, commercial real estate, commercial, paycheck protection program, municipal, and agriculture loans; and consumer and other loans, such as automobile, boat, and home improvement and home equity loans, as well as insurance, and mobile and online banking services. In addition, the company invests in certain investment and mortgage-related securities. It operates in the eastern, central, southeast, and southwest Kansas. The company was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Manhattan, Kansas.