Reviewing Oak Ridge Financial Services (OTCMKTS:BKOR) and South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK)

South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK) and Oak Ridge Financial Services (OTCMKTS:BKOR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

13.3% of South Atlantic Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.2% of Oak Ridge Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 25.6% of Oak Ridge Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

South Atlantic Bancshares has a beta of 0.09, suggesting that its stock price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oak Ridge Financial Services has a beta of 0.09, suggesting that its stock price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for South Atlantic Bancshares and Oak Ridge Financial Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
South Atlantic Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00
Oak Ridge Financial Services	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares South Atlantic Bancshares and Oak Ridge Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
South Atlantic Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Oak Ridge Financial Services	18.10%	N/A	N/A

Dividends

South Atlantic Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Oak Ridge Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. South Atlantic Bancshares pays out 4.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oak Ridge Financial Services pays out 19.2% 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 South Atlantic Bancshares and Oak Ridge Financial Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
South Atlantic Bancshares	$102.25 million	1.69	$15.94 million	$2.10	10.83
Oak Ridge Financial Services	$44.28 million	1.79	$8.01 million	$2.92	9.93

South Atlantic Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Oak Ridge Financial Services. Oak Ridge Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than South Atlantic Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

South Atlantic Bancshares beats Oak Ridge Financial Services on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About South Atlantic Bancshares

South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for South Atlantic Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, and corporations in South Carolina. The company offers checking, money market, and saving accounts, as well as certificate of deposit, individual retirement, and health saving accounts; personal, auto, and recreation loans, as well as home equity and ready reserve overdraft line of credits, and commercial lending products; and credit cards. It also provides cash management and merchant card services; remote deposit capture and automated clearing house services; online, mobile, and telephone banking services; personal and business checks; mortgage products and services; and wealth management services. The company operates offices in Myrtle Beach, Carolina Forest, North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, and Beaufort, South Carolina. South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

About Oak Ridge Financial Services

Oak Ridge Financial Services, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Bank of Oak Ridge that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses. It offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; overdrafts; auto, home equity, mortgage, business term, and business SBA loans; business lines of credit; credit cards; and online and mobile banking products and services. The company also provides health savings accounts, identity theft protection, wealth management, cash management, and remote deposit capture services; and auto, home, small business, renters, life, boat and watercraft, classic car, motorcycle, flood, pet, and umbrella insurance products. It operates through a network of branches in Oak Ridge, Greensboro, and Summerfield, North Carolina. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Oak Ridge, North Carolina.