Sterling Bancorp (NASDAQ:SBT) versus Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) Financial Contrast

Sterling Bancorp (NASDAQ:SBT) and Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Sterling Bancorp and Chester Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sterling Bancorp	4.84%	2.00%	0.27%
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sterling Bancorp and Chester Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sterling Bancorp	$61.64 million	4.03	$7.41 million	$0.16	29.81
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Sterling Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Chester Bancorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

26.4% of Sterling Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Sterling Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 38.8% of Chester Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Sterling Bancorp has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chester Bancorp has a beta of -0.05, suggesting that its share price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sterling Bancorp and Chester Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sterling Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Chester Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Dividends

Sterling Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Chester Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.3%. Sterling Bancorp pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Sterling Bancorp beats Chester Bancorp on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sterling Bancorp

Sterling Bancorp, Inc. is a unitary thrift holding company. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Sterling Bank and Trust, F.S.B., has primary branch operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California and New York City, and a loan production office in Seattle, Washington. Sterling offers a broad range of loan products to the residential and commercial markets, as well as retail and business banking services. Sterling also has an operations center and a branch in Southfield, Michigan. Sterling was named as the top performing community bank in the United States with total assets between $1 billion and $10 billion in 2017 by SNL/S&P Global Market Intelligence.

About Chester Bancorp

Chester Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Chester National Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Chester, Illinois. It offers checking accounts, such as regular checking, student checking, golden checking, and club checking accounts; savings accounts, including statement savings, Christmas club, and money market accounts; and certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans comprising mortgage, construction, lot, home equity, consumer, and business loans; and reorder check services. It operates two full service offices in Sparta, Illinois; and Perryville, Missouri. Chester Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Chester, Illinois.