Analyzing Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (OTCMKTS:FMBL) & Swedbank AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:SWDBY)

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (OTCMKTS:FMBL) and Swedbank AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:SWDBY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and Swedbank AB (publ)”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach	$431.97 million	1.64	$70.01 million	$427.35	13.46
Swedbank AB (publ)	$11.74 billion	N/A	$3.22 billion	SEK 2.92	6.88

Swedbank AB (publ) has higher revenue and earnings than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach. Swedbank AB (publ) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and Swedbank AB (publ), as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach	0	0	0	0	0.00
Swedbank AB (publ)	0	2	0	0	2.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

7.6% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.8% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach and Swedbank AB (publ)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach	11.52%	3.95%	0.44%
Swedbank AB (publ)	25.27%	17.38%	1.14%

Dividends

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays an annual dividend of $112.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Swedbank AB (publ) pays an annual dividend of SEK 0.97 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Swedbank AB (publ) pays out 33.2% 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.

Volatility & Risk

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Swedbank AB (publ) has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Swedbank AB (publ) beats Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach provides various banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Barbara Counties. It offers checking, savings, Christmas club savings, health savings, market rate savings, and money market accounts; demand and time deposits; certificates of deposit; and individual retirement account. The company also provides personal, home, commercial real estate, real estate and construction, and commercial business loans, as well as lines of credit; financing for residential loans comprising single-family and multifamily loans; and credit and debit cards. In addition, it offers account management, receivables and payables, and risk management services; commercial lending services; and faith-based and healthcare banking services, as well as online and mobile banking services. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

About Swedbank AB (publ)

Swedbank AB (publ) provides various banking products and services to private and corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the United States, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg, and China. The company operates through three business areas: Swedish Banking, Baltic Banking, and Corporates and Institutions. It offers savings accounts, mutual funds and insurance savings, pension savings, institutional asset management, and other savings and investment products; private residential lending, consumer financing, corporate lending, leasing, and other financing products, as well as trade finance and factoring services; and current accounts, cash handling, debit and credit cards, and card acquiring, as well as domestic, international, mobile, document, and other payment products. The company also provides equity trading, structured products, corporate finance, custody services, fixed income and currency trading, and other capital market products; and administrative services, treasury operations, real estate brokerage and management services, legal services, safe deposit boxes, and other services. In addition, it offers pension insurance and plan, life, endowment insurance, and personal insurance products; investment management, investment banking, and mortgage lending services; and transaction banking services comprising cash management, securities, account, and clearing and settlement services, as well as Internet and mobile banking services. The company was formerly known as ForeningsSparbanken AB and changed its name to Swedbank AB (publ) in September 2006. Swedbank AB (publ) was founded in 1820 and is headquartered in Sundbyberg, Sweden.