Reviewing Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) and Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI)

Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) and Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Blue Foundry Bancorp and Shore Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blue Foundry Bancorp	$87.25 million	3.13	-$11.91 million	($0.46)	-28.59
Shore Bancshares	$342.72 million	1.85	$43.89 million	$1.78	10.66

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.5% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.8% of Shore Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Blue Foundry Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Shore Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Blue Foundry Bancorp and Shore Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blue Foundry Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
Shore Bancshares	0	2	2	0	2.50

Shore Bancshares has a consensus target price of $18.75, indicating a potential downside of 1.16%. Given Shore Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Shore Bancshares is more favorable than Blue Foundry Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Blue Foundry Bancorp and Shore Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blue Foundry Bancorp	-9.82%	-2.84%	-0.44%
Shore Bancshares	17.36%	11.62%	1.07%

Risk & Volatility

Blue Foundry Bancorp has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shore Bancshares has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Shore Bancshares beats Blue Foundry Bancorp on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blue Foundry Bancorp

Blue Foundry Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for Blue Foundry Bank, a savings bank that offers various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers saving, time, and non-interest bearing deposits; demand accounts; and loans, such as one-to-four family residential property, multi-family, residential real estate, non-residential real estate, consumer, construction, and commercial and industrial loans, as well as junior liens and home equity lines of credit. The company was formerly known as Boiling Springs Bancorp and changed its name to Blue Foundry Bancorp in July 2019. Blue Foundry Bancorp was founded in 1939 and is based in Rutherford, New Jersey.

About Shore Bancshares

Shore Bancshares, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Shore United Bank, N.A. that provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations. It offers checking, savings, overnight investment sweep, and money market accounts; and regular and IRA certificates of deposit, as well as CDARS programs and cash management services. The company also provides commercial loans, such as secured and unsecured loans, working capital loans, lines of credit, term loans, accounts receivable financing, real estate acquisition and development loans, construction loans, and letters of credit; residential real estate construction loans; residential mortgage loans; and loans to consumers, including home equity, automobile, installment, home improvement, and personal lines of credit, as well as other consumer financing products. In addition, it offers trust, asset management, and financial planning services; treasury management services, such as merchant card processing, remote deposit capture, and ACH origination, as well as telephone, mobile, and Internet banking services; safe deposit boxes; debit and credit cards; and automatic teller machine services. Shore Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Easton, Maryland.