Head-To-Head Comparison: Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) and Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC)

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Great Southern Bancorp and Flushing Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Great Southern Bancorp	20.70%	11.40%	1.21%
Flushing Financial	-6.93%	4.98%	0.40%

Volatility and Risk

Great Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Great Southern Bancorp and Flushing Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Great Southern Bancorp	0	3	1	0	2.25
Flushing Financial	1	2	0	0	1.67

Great Southern Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $60.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.87%. Given Great Southern Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Great Southern Bancorp is more favorable than Flushing Financial.

Dividends

Great Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Great Southern Bancorp pays out 27.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial pays out -73.9% 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. Flushing Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.7% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.9% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Great Southern Bancorp and Flushing Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Great Southern Bancorp	$342.78 million	1.99	$61.81 million	$6.20	9.84
Flushing Financial	$484.72 million	1.09	-$31.33 million	($1.19)	-13.15

Great Southern Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Flushing Financial. Flushing Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Great Southern Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Great Southern Bancorp beats Flushing Financial on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home improvement loans, and unsecured consumer loans, as well as secured consumer loans, such as automobile loans, boat loans, home equity loans, and loans secured by savings deposits. It also provides insurance and merchant banking services. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.