Critical Survey: Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) versus Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN)

Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) and Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Colony Bankcorp and Surrey Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Colony Bankcorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Surrey Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Dividends

Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Surrey Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Colony Bankcorp pays out 35.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Surrey Bancorp pays out 31.6% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and Surrey Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Colony Bankcorp	13.03%	9.09%	0.76%
Surrey Bancorp	37.97%	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and Surrey Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Colony Bankcorp	$160.55 million	1.68	$21.75 million	$1.26	12.17
Surrey Bancorp	$16.20 million	4.23	$5.10 million	$1.52	10.99

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 33.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Surrey Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Colony Bankcorp beats Surrey Bancorp on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers internet banking services, electronic bill payment services, safe deposit box rentals, telephone banking, credit and debit card services, and remote depository products, as well as access to a network of ATMs. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.

About Surrey Bancorp

Surrey BanCorp engages in the provision of banking solutions through its subsidiaries, Surrey Bank & Trust . It offers checking accounts, savings, deposit services, mortgages, real estate loans, commercial credit products, business checking, and electronic banking. The company was founded on May 1, 2003 and is headquartered in Mount Airy, NC.