Ames National (ATLO) Competitors

Ames National (NASDAQ:ATLO) and HomeTrust Bancshares (NASDAQ:HTBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and profitability.

Is ATLO or HTBI more profitable?

HomeTrust Bancshares has a net margin of 18.57% compared to Ames National's net margin of 11.05%. HomeTrust Bancshares' return on equity of 10.43% beat Ames National's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ames National	11.05%	5.94%	0.48%
HomeTrust Bancshares	18.57%	10.43%	1.18%

Is ATLO or HTBI a better dividend stock?

Ames National pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. HomeTrust Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Ames National pays out 70.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HomeTrust Bancshares pays out 15.0% 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.

Does the media prefer ATLO or HTBI?

In the previous week, Ames National had 2 more articles in the media than HomeTrust Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Ames National and 1 mentions for HomeTrust Bancshares. HomeTrust Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat Ames National's score of 1.18 indicating that HomeTrust Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ames National	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
HomeTrust Bancshares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ATLO or HTBI?

HomeTrust Bancshares received 114 more outperform votes than Ames National when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.53% of users gave HomeTrust Bancshares an outperform vote while only 54.49% of users gave Ames National an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ames National	Outperform Votes 97 54.49%	Underperform Votes 81 45.51%
HomeTrust Bancshares	Outperform Votes 211 55.53%	Underperform Votes 169 44.47%

Do analysts prefer ATLO or HTBI?

HomeTrust Bancshares has a consensus target price of $42.50, indicating a potential upside of 16.28%. Given HomeTrust Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe HomeTrust Bancshares is more favorable than Ames National.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ames National	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
HomeTrust Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Which has more risk and volatility, ATLO or HTBI?

Ames National has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HomeTrust Bancshares has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, ATLO or HTBI?

HomeTrust Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Ames National. HomeTrust Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ames National, 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
Ames National	$92.44M	1.78	$10.22M	$1.14	16.04
HomeTrust Bancshares	$295.07M	2.17	$54.81M	$3.20	11.42

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ATLO or HTBI?

26.5% of Ames National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.9% of HomeTrust Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of Ames National shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.2% of HomeTrust Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

HomeTrust Bancshares beats Ames National on 17 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.