Contrasting First Community Bankshares (NASDAQ:FCBC) & Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC)

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

Profitability

This table compares Flushing Financial and First Community Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flushing Financial	-6.46%	3.25%	0.24%
First Community Bankshares	27.81%	10.35%	1.64%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.0% of First Community Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of Flushing Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of First Community Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Community Bankshares has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Flushing Financial and First Community Bankshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flushing Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33
First Community Bankshares	0	1	0	0	2.00

Flushing Financial currently has a consensus target price of $16.17, suggesting a potential upside of 22.75%. First Community Bankshares has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.77%. Given Flushing Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than First Community Bankshares.

Dividends

Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. First Community Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Flushing Financial pays out -62.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Community Bankshares pays out 44.8% 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 Community Bankshares has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Flushing Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Flushing Financial and First Community Bankshares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flushing Financial	$137.32 million	3.24	-$31.33 million	($1.42)	-9.27
First Community Bankshares	$155.82 million	4.63	$51.60 million	$2.77	14.26

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

Summary

First Community Bankshares beats Flushing Financial on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About First Community Bankshares

First Community Bankshares, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for First Community Bank that provides various banking products and services. It offers demand deposit accounts, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement plans; and commercial, consumer real estate, and consumer and other loans. The company also provides trust management, estate administration, and investment advisory services; and investment management services. It serves individuals and businesses across various industries, such as education, government, and health services; coal mining and gas extraction; retail trade; construction; manufacturing; tourism; and transportation. The company operates through branches in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Community Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in Bluefield, Virginia.