BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB) versus Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) Critical Comparison

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) and BEO Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BEOB) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Wintrust Financial and BEO Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wintrust Financial	0	2	10	1	2.92
BEO Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus price target of $118.23, suggesting a potential upside of 10.96%. Given Wintrust Financial’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Wintrust Financial is more favorable than BEO Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Wintrust Financial has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BEO Bancorp has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Wintrust Financial and BEO Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wintrust Financial	17.02%	12.71%	1.10%
BEO Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Wintrust Financial and BEO Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wintrust Financial	$3.33 billion	2.13	$622.63 million	$9.67	11.02
BEO Bancorp	$51.01 million	1.76	$14.21 million	N/A	N/A

Wintrust Financial has higher revenue and earnings than BEO Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. BEO Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Wintrust Financial pays out 18.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wintrust Financial has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats BEO Bancorp on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company. It operates in three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, and other services. It also engages in the retail origination and purchase of residential mortgages; and provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations, as well as asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, this segment offers loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. It provides personal and commercial banking services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional clients. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services; other specialty finance services; equipment financing through structured loan and lease products; and property and casualty premium financing; as well as data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management services, such as trust and investment, asset management, tax-deferred exchange, securities brokerage, and retirement plan services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.

About BEO Bancorp

BEO Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Eastern Oregon that provides commercial and consumer financing, banking and mortgage lending, and other services in Northeastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington. The company offers checking, money market, time deposits, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial, agricultural, real estate, installment, credit card, mortgage, term, home, construction, farm, and refinancing loans; lines of credit; home enhancement loan programs; Internet banking and bill payment services; business sweep and banking services; and automated teller machines and safe deposit facilities, as well as originates and sells mortgage loans into the secondary market. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Heppner, Oregon.