Critical Comparison: First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB) & Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR)

First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB) and Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of First Republic Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.4% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of First Republic Bank shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for First Republic Bank and Sierra Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Republic Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
Sierra Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40

Sierra Bancorp has a consensus target price of $37.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.65%. Given Sierra Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sierra Bancorp is more favorable than First Republic Bank.

Risk and Volatility

First Republic Bank has a beta of 3.3, indicating that its share price is 230% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Bancorp has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Republic Bank and Sierra Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Republic Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.23	0.01
Sierra Bancorp	$201.98 million	2.49	$42.33 million	$3.43	11.20

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

Profitability

This table compares First Republic Bank and Sierra Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Republic Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sierra Bancorp	22.53%	12.67%	1.21%

Summary

Sierra Bancorp beats First Republic Bank on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Republic Bank

As of May 1, 2023, First Republic Bank went out of business. Previously, First Republic Bank provided private banking, private business banking, and private wealth management services to clients in metropolitan areas in the United States. The company was founded in 1985 and was headquartered in San Francisco, California. First Republic Bank now trades on OTCPK.

About Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the Sierra that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in California. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market demand accounts, time deposits, retirement accounts, and sweep accounts. The company's loan products include agricultural, commercial, consumer, real estate, construction, and mortgage loans. It also offers automated teller machines; electronic point-of-sale payment alternatives; online and automated telephone banking services; and remote deposit capture and automated payroll services for business customers. Sierra Bancorp was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Porterville, California.