Reviewing BV Financial (NASDAQ:BVFL) and BankUnited (NYSE:BKU)

BV Financial (NASDAQ:BVFL) and BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

BV Financial has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BankUnited has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.7% of BV Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of BankUnited shares are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of BV Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of BankUnited shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for BV Financial and BankUnited, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BV Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
BankUnited	1	6	3	0	2.20

BankUnited has a consensus target price of $43.40, indicating a potential upside of 6.06%. Given BankUnited’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BankUnited is more favorable than BV Financial.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BV Financial and BankUnited”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BV Financial	$49.20 million	3.54	$11.72 million	$1.09	13.78
BankUnited	$2.02 billion	1.51	$232.47 million	$3.08	13.29

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

Profitability

This table compares BV Financial and BankUnited’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BV Financial	23.83%	6.09%	1.40%
BankUnited	11.48%	8.48%	0.66%

Summary

BankUnited beats BV Financial on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BV Financial

BV Financial, Inc. operates as the holding company for BayVanguard Bank that provides various financial services to individuals and businesses in Maryland. The company offers checking and money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposits. Its loan products include real estate, home equity, construction, lot, auto, boat, and other personal loans; and commercial lending products, such as commercial equipment/installation, commercial real estate, construction, investment real estate, lines of credit, and SBA loans, as well as loans for short-term real estate purchase, renovation, and sale projects. The company offers ATM, overdraft, safe deposit, bill pay, remote deposit capture, ACH origination, merchant, and online banking services. BV Financial, Inc. was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for BankUnited, a national banking association that provides a range of banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, money market deposit, and savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and treasury, commercial payment, and cash management services. Its loans portfolio includes commercial loans, including equipment loans, secured and unsecured lines of credit, formula-based lines of credit, owner-occupied commercial real estate term loans and lines of credit, mortgage warehouse lines, subscription finance facilities, letters of credit, commercial credit cards, small business administration and U.S. department of agriculture product offerings, export-import bank financing products, trade finance, and business acquisition finance credit facilities; commercial real estate loans; residential mortgages; and other consumer loans. The company offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services. It operates through a network of banking centers located in Florida counties and the New York metropolitan area, as well as Dallas, Texas. The company was formerly known as BU Financial Corporation. BankUnited, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida.