Reviewing Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) & First Northern Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FNRN)

Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) and First Northern Community Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FNRN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Oak Valley Bancorp and First Northern Community Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oak Valley Bancorp	$79.72 million	2.91	$24.95 million	$2.85	9.71
First Northern Community Bancorp	$84.67 million	2.43	$20.03 million	$1.31	10.01

Oak Valley Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Northern Community Bancorp. Oak Valley Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Northern Community Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Oak Valley Bancorp and First Northern Community Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oak Valley Bancorp	26.38%	12.80%	1.23%
First Northern Community Bancorp	23.58%	11.03%	1.08%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Oak Valley Bancorp and First Northern Community Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oak Valley Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00
First Northern Community Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

30.9% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.9% of First Northern Community Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.1% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of First Northern Community Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Oak Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Northern Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Oak Valley Bancorp beats First Northern Community Bancorp on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial real estate loans, commercial business lending and trade finance, and small business administration lending, as well as consumer loans, including automobile loans, home mortgages, credit lines, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides online and mobile banking, remote deposit capture, merchant, night depository, extended hours, wire transfer of funds, note collection services, and automated teller machines. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Oakdale, California.

About First Northern Community Bancorp

First Northern Community Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Northern Bank of Dixon that provides commercial banking products and services to individuals, and small and medium sized businesses. The company accepts demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction deposits, savings and money market deposit accounts, and time deposits. It also offers commercial, commercial real estate, agriculture, residential mortgage, residential construction, and consumer loans. In addition, the company provides debit and credit cards; investment and brokerage services; alternative investment products, and fiduciary and other financial services; and equipment leasing, merchant card processing, payroll, and international banking services through third parties. Further, it offers cashier's checks, safe deposit boxes, and other customary banking services. The company operates branches located in the cities of Auburn, Colusa, Davis, Dixon, Fairfield, Orland, Rancho Cordova, Roseville, Sacramento, Vacaville, West Sacramento, Winters, Willows, and Woodland; satellite banking office inside a retirement community in the city of Davis; residential mortgage loan office in Davis; and commercial loan office in the Contra Costa County city of Walnut Creek. First Northern Community Bancorp was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Dixon, California.