Critical Survey: Equitable Financial (OTCMKTS:EQFN) versus Mid-Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSVB)

Equitable Financial (OTCMKTS:EQFN – Get Rating) and Mid-Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSVB – Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

7.4% of Equitable Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.5% of Mid-Southern Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.3% of Equitable Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of Mid-Southern Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Equitable Financial and Mid-Southern Bancorp’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equitable Financial	$22.78 million	1.49	$4.59 million	N/A	N/A
Mid-Southern Bancorp	$10.06 million	3.28	$1.88 million	$0.69	16.67

Equitable Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Mid-Southern Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Equitable Financial and Mid-Southern Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equitable Financial	N/A	5.34%	0.50%
Mid-Southern Bancorp	18.69%	5.32%	0.71%

Volatility & Risk

Equitable Financial has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mid-Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Equitable Financial and Mid-Southern Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equitable Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A
Mid-Southern Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Summary

Equitable Financial beats Mid-Southern Bancorp on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equitable Financial

(Get Rating)

Equitable Financial Corp. operates as a holding company. Through its subsidiary Equitable Bank, it provides personal and business banking, and wealth management. The firm operates through the following portfolio segments: Commercial, Agricultural, Residential Real Estate, and Other. Equitable Financial was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Grand Island, NE.

About Mid-Southern Bancorp

(Get Rating)

Mid-Southern Bancorp, Inc. is the savings and loan holding company of Mid-Southern Savings Bank, which it originates one-to-four family residential real estate mortgage loans inclusion home equity lines of credit, commerical, multifamily real estate, and construction loans. It also offers commerical business and other consumer loans. The company was founded on July 11, 2018 and is headquartered in Salem, IN.