Financial Contrast: Five Star Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBC) versus First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB)

Five Star Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSBC) and First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Five Star Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. First Republic Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 180,000.0%. Five Star Bancorp pays out 29.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Republic Bank pays out 20.3% 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. First Republic Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Five Star Bancorp	23.18%	13.88%	1.32%
First Republic Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Five Star Bancorp and First Republic Bank”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Five Star Bancorp	$213.40 million	3.39	$45.67 million	$2.70	12.54
First Republic Bank	$6.75 billion	0.00	$1.67 billion	$5.32	0.00

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

46.9% of Five Star Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of First Republic Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 21.7% of Five Star Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of First Republic Bank shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Five Star Bancorp has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Republic Bank has a beta of 2.45, indicating that its share price is 145% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Five Star Bancorp and First Republic Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Five Star Bancorp	0	2	5	0	2.71
First Republic Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

Five Star Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $39.40, indicating a potential upside of 16.40%. Given Five Star Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Five Star Bancorp is more favorable than First Republic Bank.

Summary

Five Star Bancorp beats First Republic Bank on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Five Star Bancorp

Five Star Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Five Star Bank that provides a range of banking products and services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and individuals in Northern California. It accepts various deposits, such as money market accounts, noninterest-bearing and interest checking accounts, savings accounts, term certificate accounts, and time deposits. The company also offers loan products, including commercial and residential real estate loans; commercial loans; commercial land loans; farmland loans; commercial and residential construction loans; and consumer and other loans, as well as operating lines of credit. In addition, it provides debit cards; and remote deposit capture, online and mobile banking, and direct deposit services. Five Star Bancorp was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California.

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.