Southern States Bancshares (SSBK) Competitors

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) and Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, community ranking and dividends.

Is ESSA or SSBK a better dividend stock?

ESSA Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Southern States Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. ESSA Bancorp pays out 32.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern States Bancshares pays out 10.0% 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. ESSA Bancorp has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. ESSA Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is ESSA or SSBK more profitable?

Southern States Bancshares has a net margin of 21.51% compared to Southern States Bancshares' net margin of 16.84%. ESSA Bancorp's return on equity of 15.31% beat Southern States Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESSA Bancorp	16.84%	8.12%	0.81%
Southern States Bancshares	21.51%	15.31%	1.34%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ESSA or SSBK?

ESSA Bancorp received 135 more outperform votes than Southern States Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.57% of users gave ESSA Bancorp an outperform vote while only 46.15% of users gave Southern States Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
ESSA Bancorp	Outperform Votes 147 58.57%	Underperform Votes 104 41.43%
Southern States Bancshares	Outperform Votes 12 46.15%	Underperform Votes 14 53.85%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ESSA or SSBK?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ESSA Bancorp	$93.40M	1.88	$18.58M	$1.85	9.37
Southern States Bancshares	$141.13M	1.68	$31.95M	$3.60	7.39

Do analysts rate ESSA or SSBK?

Southern States Bancshares has a consensus target price of $35.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.63%. Given ESSA Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Southern States Bancshares is more favorable than ESSA Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESSA Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
Southern States Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor ESSA or SSBK?

In the previous week, ESSA Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than Southern States Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for ESSA Bancorp and 3 mentions for Southern States Bancshares. ESSA Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Southern States Bancshares' score of 0.79 indicating that Southern States Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESSA Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southern States Bancshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, ESSA or SSBK?

ESSA Bancorp has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern States Bancshares has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ESSA or SSBK?

54.2% of ESSA Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.7% of Southern States Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 7.5% of ESSA Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of Southern States Bancshares 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.

Summary

Southern States Bancshares beats ESSA Bancorp on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.