Analyzing Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) and First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB)

First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) and Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Hawaiian and Plumas Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Hawaiian	$1.17 billion	2.82	$276.27 million	$2.28	11.89
Plumas Bancorp	$112.17 million	3.27	$29.62 million	$4.72	11.14

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for First Hawaiian and Plumas Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Hawaiian	3	5	1	0	1.78
Plumas Bancorp	0	0	4	0	3.00

First Hawaiian currently has a consensus target price of $27.56, suggesting a potential upside of 1.67%. Plumas Bancorp has a consensus target price of $57.67, suggesting a potential upside of 9.67%. Given Plumas Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Plumas Bancorp is more favorable than First Hawaiian.

Dividends

First Hawaiian pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Plumas Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. First Hawaiian pays out 45.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Plumas Bancorp pays out 28.0% 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. Plumas Bancorp has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares First Hawaiian and Plumas Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Hawaiian	24.44%	10.39%	1.18%
Plumas Bancorp	26.67%	15.16%	1.76%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.6% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

First Hawaiian has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Plumas Bancorp beats First Hawaiian on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Hawaiian

First Hawaiian, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for First Hawaiian Bank that provides a range of banking products and services to consumer and commercial customers in the United States. It operates in three segments: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Other. The company offers various deposit products, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts, and other deposit accounts. It also provides residential and commercial mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit and loans, automobile loans and leases, secured and unsecured lines of credit, installment loans, small business loans and leases, and construction lending, as well as commercial lease and auto dealer financing. In addition, the company offers wealth management, personal installment, individual investment and financial planning, insurance protection, trust and estate, private banking, investment management, retirement planning, and merchant processing services, as well as consumer and commercial credit cards. The company was formerly known as BancWest Corporation and changed its name to First Hawaiian, Inc. in April 2016. First Hawaiian, Inc. was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

About Plumas Bancorp

Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.