Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (HFBL) Competitors

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings, risk, community ranking, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Is PEBK or HFBL a better dividend stock?

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays out 25.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays out 47.7% 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. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in PEBK or HFBL?

43.8% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.1% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.9% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.6% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned 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.

Which has more risk & volatility, PEBK or HFBL?

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PEBK or HFBL more profitable?

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a net margin of 15.27% compared to Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana's net margin of 10.05%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina's return on equity of 12.92% beat Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	15.27%	12.92%	0.98%
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	10.05%	6.25%	0.52%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, PEBK or HFBL?

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has higher revenue and earnings than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana, 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
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	$94.78M	1.67	$15.55M	$2.95	9.83
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	$33.45M	1.20	$3.59M	$1.09	11.78

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PEBK or HFBL?

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina received 50 more outperform votes than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.23% of users gave Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina an outperform vote while only 61.31% of users gave Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	Outperform Votes 153 66.23%	Underperform Votes 78 33.77%
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	Outperform Votes 103 61.31%	Underperform Votes 65 38.69%

Does the media prefer PEBK or HFBL?

In the previous week, Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana had 4 more articles in the media than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana and 2 mentions for Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana's score of 0.72 indicating that Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina beats Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.