Critical Survey: GrandSouth Bancorporation (OTCMKTS:GRRB) and Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP)

GrandSouth Bancorporation (OTCMKTS:GRRB) and Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares GrandSouth Bancorporation and Popular”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GrandSouth Bancorporation	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Popular	$4.44 billion	2.41	$833.16 million	$13.54	12.23

Popular has higher revenue and earnings than GrandSouth Bancorporation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for GrandSouth Bancorporation and Popular, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GrandSouth Bancorporation	0	0	0	0	0.00
Popular	0	1	10	1	3.00

Popular has a consensus price target of $168.73, suggesting a potential upside of 1.86%. Given Popular’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Popular is more favorable than GrandSouth Bancorporation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.3% of Popular shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.3% of GrandSouth Bancorporation shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Popular shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares GrandSouth Bancorporation and Popular’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GrandSouth Bancorporation	N/A	N/A	N/A
Popular	20.10%	14.53%	1.18%

Summary

Popular beats GrandSouth Bancorporation on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GrandSouth Bancorporation

GrandSouth Bancorporation operates as the bank holding company for GrandSouth Bank that provides banking services to individuals and businesses. It accepts checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, various term certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers one-to-four family residential, commercial real estate, home equity and lines of credit, residential construction and other construction and land, and commercial loans; and consumer loans comprising loans secured by personal property, such as automobiles, marketable securities, and boats and motorcycles, as well as unsecured consumer debt. In addition, it invests in investment securities, as well as provides specialty floor plan lending to small auto dealerships under the CarBucks trade name. The company operates through eight branches across South Carolina. GrandSouth Bancorporation was founded in 1998 and is based in Greenville, South Carolina.

About Popular

Popular, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various retail, mortgage, and commercial banking products and services in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the British Virgin Islands. The company provides savings, NOW, money market, and other interest-bearing demand accounts; non-interest bearing demand deposits; and certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial and industrial, commercial multi-family, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage loans; consumer loans, including personal loans, credit cards, automobile loans, home equity lines of credit, and other loans to individual borrowers; construction loans; and lease financing comprising automobile loans/leases. In addition, the company provides investment banking, auto and equipment leasing and financing, broker-dealer, and insurance services; debit cards; and online banking services. Popular, Inc. was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.