Contrasting Pacific Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:PVBK) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Pacific Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:PVBK) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Pacific Valley Bancorp and Pinnacle Financial Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pacific Valley Bancorp	15.07%	N/A	N/A
Pinnacle Financial Partners	13.97%	8.89%	1.07%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.8% of Pacific Valley Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pacific Valley Bancorp and Pinnacle Financial Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pacific Valley Bancorp	$27.51 million	1.65	$4.85 million	$0.92	10.09
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$2.79 billion	3.60	$562.15 million	$5.26	24.69

Pinnacle Financial Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Valley Bancorp. Pacific Valley Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pinnacle Financial Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Pacific Valley Bancorp and Pinnacle Financial Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pacific Valley Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0	6	4	0	2.40

Pinnacle Financial Partners has a consensus price target of $108.70, indicating a potential downside of 16.30%. Given Pinnacle Financial Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pinnacle Financial Partners is more favorable than Pacific Valley Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

Pacific Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pinnacle Financial Partners has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Pinnacle Financial Partners beats Pacific Valley Bancorp on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pacific Valley Bancorp

Pacific Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Valley Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company offers personal and business banking, including checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and online solutions, such as online and mobile banking, bill pay, remote deposit capture, positive pay, e-statements, and order checks. It also provides commercial or agriculture lines of credit, commercial or agriculture terms loans, commercial constructions loans, agriculture production lending, and government guaranteed loan programs; and debit card, incoming wire instructions, ATM locator, fraud prevention, identity theft, and FDIC insurance estimator services. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Salinas, California.

About Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as the bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and professional entities in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, including savings, noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and provides treasury management services, which includes online wire origination, enhanced ACH origination services, positive pay, zero balance and sweep accounts, automated bill pay services, electronic receivables processing, lockbox processing, and merchant card acceptance services. It offers equipment and working capital loans; commercial real estate loans comprising investment properties and business loans; secured and unsecured loans, such as installment and term, lines of credit, and residential first mortgage, as well as home equity loans and home equity lines of credit; and credit cards for consumers and businesses. The company also provides investment products; brokerage and investment advisory programs; and fiduciary and investment services, such as personal trust, investment management, estate administration, endowments, foundations, individual retirement accounts, escrow services, and custody. In addition, it offers insurance agency services primarily in the property and casualty area; merger and acquisition advisory services; and private debt, equity and mezzanine, and other middle-market advisory services. Further, the company provides telephone and online banking, mobile banking, debit and credit cards, direct deposit and remote deposit capture, mobile deposit option, automated teller machine, and cash management services. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.