Reviewing Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) & Lyons Bancorp (OTCMKTS:LYBC)

Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) and Lyons Bancorp (OTCMKTS:LYBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Southern California Bancorp and Lyons Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern California Bancorp	12.34%	5.92%	0.74%
Lyons Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Southern California Bancorp has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lyons Bancorp has a beta of -0.07, indicating that its share price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

55.4% of Southern California Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Lyons Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 19.6% of Southern California Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Southern California Bancorp and Lyons Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern California Bancorp	$90.64 million	2.93	$25.91 million	$1.21	11.85
Lyons Bancorp	$70.28 million	1.91	$17.35 million	$4.60	8.67

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Southern California Bancorp and Lyons Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern California Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50
Lyons Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Southern California Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.50%. Given Southern California Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Southern California Bancorp is more favorable than Lyons Bancorp.

Summary

Southern California Bancorp beats Lyons Bancorp on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern California Bancorp

Southern California Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A. that provides various financial products to individuals, professionals, and small-to medium-sized businesses. The company offers checking, personal and business savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides home equity lines of credit, business loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate and construction loans, small business administration loans, letters of credit, and personal and business credit cards. In addition, the company provides cash vault, sweep accounts, and remote deposit capture services; online and mobile banking services; courier service; lockbox services; and merchant services. It operates branches in San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties, as well as the Inland Empire. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Lyons Bancorp

Lyons Bancorp Inc. operates as a financial holding company for The Lyons National Bank that provides a range of commercial and retail banking services to individual and small business customers. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit; commercial real estate, agricultural real estate, commercial and agricultural, and consumer instalment loans; and residential real estate loans, such as classes for 1-4 family and home equity loans, as well as consumer loans comprising recreational, auto, personal, personal line of credit, and home improvement loans; financial services, including retirement strategy, investment management, education savings, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and employer and employee benefit services. The company also provides mortgage, online and mobile banking, telephone banking, credit and debit card, online cash management, merchant, safe deposit boxes, wire transfer, traveller program, online bill pay, e-statements, money orders, and official checks services. It operates branches in Wayne, Onondaga, Yates, Ontario, Monroe, Seneca, and Cayuga counties, New York. The company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Lyons, New York.