Comparing United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF)

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 39.5% of Chesapeake Financial Shares 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.

Volatility and Risk

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Financial Shares has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for United Community Banks and Chesapeake Financial Shares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	3	4	0	2.57
Chesapeake Financial Shares	0	0	0	0	0.00

United Community Banks presently has a consensus price target of $38.40, suggesting a potential upside of 8.15%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Chesapeake Financial Shares.

Dividends

United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Chesapeake Financial Shares pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. United Community Banks pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chesapeake Financial Shares pays out 17.1% 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Community Banks and Chesapeake Financial Shares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$1.07 billion	3.98	$328.10 million	$2.72	13.05
Chesapeake Financial Shares	$102.27 million	1.73	$10.00 million	$4.22	8.95

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than Chesapeake Financial Shares. Chesapeake Financial Shares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and Chesapeake Financial Shares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	22.05%	9.65%	1.24%
Chesapeake Financial Shares	17.24%	15.51%	1.19%

Summary

United Community Banks beats Chesapeake Financial Shares on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About Chesapeake Financial Shares

Chesapeake Financial Shares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Chesapeake Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts interest and noninterest checking, savings, and money market accounts; and variable-rate and fixed-term money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers mortgage, and single-family residential and residential construction loans; commercial loans, which include owner-occupied commercial development, retail, builders/contractors, medical, service and professional, hospitality, nonprofits, marine industry, and agricultural and seafood loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company provides merchant processing, accounts receivable financing, wealth management and trust, and mortgage banking services, as well as cash management services. The company was founded in 1900 and is based in Kilmarnock, Virginia.