Financial Comparison: First Niles Financial (OTCMKTS:FNFI) and Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI)

Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI) and First Niles Financial (OTCMKTS:FNFI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Citizens Community Bancorp and First Niles Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Community Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00
First Niles Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Citizens Community Bancorp and First Niles Financial’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Community Bancorp	$94.50 million	1.24	$13.06 million	$1.29	8.74
First Niles Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Citizens Community Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than First Niles Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Community Bancorp and First Niles Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Community Bancorp	13.69%	8.20%	0.75%
First Niles Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Citizens Community Bancorp has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Niles Financial has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.1% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of First Niles Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Citizens Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. First Niles Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Citizens Community Bancorp pays out 24.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens Community Bancorp has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Citizens Community Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Citizens Community Bancorp beats First Niles Financial on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens Community Bancorp

Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Community Federal N.A. that provides various traditional community banking services to businesses, agricultural operators, and consumers. It accepts various deposit products, including demand deposits, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also offers various loan products, such as commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural real estate, agricultural operating, and consumer loans; and one-to-four family residential mortgages and home equity lines-of-credit. In addition, it maintains a portfolio of investments comprising mortgage-backed, corporate asset-backed, U.S. Government sponsored agency, and corporate debt securities. Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

About First Niles Financial

First Niles Financial, Inc. operates as a holding company for the Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles that provides various banking products and services in Ohio, the United States. The company offers personal and business checking and savings, money market deposit, statement savings, and Christmas club accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides various loans, including mortgage and consumer loans, home equity lines of credit, and commercial loans and lines of credit. In addition, the company provides e-statement, bill pay, and night depository services; debit and ATM cards; safe deposit boxes; direct deposits; I.R.A. certificates of deposit and savings accounts; and online banking services. First Niles Financial, Inc. was founded in 1897 and is based in Niles, Ohio.