Landmark Bancorp (LARK) Competitors

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) and Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and community ranking.

Is ESQ or LARK more profitable?

Esquire Financial has a net margin of 31.58% compared to Landmark Bancorp's net margin of 14.51%. Esquire Financial's return on equity of 19.93% beat Landmark Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Esquire Financial	31.58%	19.93%	2.54%
Landmark Bancorp	14.51%	10.51%	0.89%

Do analysts prefer ESQ or LARK?

Esquire Financial currently has a consensus price target of $88.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.24%. Given Esquire Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Esquire Financial is more favorable than Landmark Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Esquire Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Landmark Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more volatility and risk, ESQ or LARK?

Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Landmark Bancorp has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in ESQ or LARK?

54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.7% of Landmark Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.9% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of Landmark Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ESQ or LARK?

Esquire Financial received 24 more outperform votes than Landmark Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.48% of users gave Esquire Financial an outperform vote while only 56.21% of users gave Landmark Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Esquire Financial	Outperform Votes 196 57.48%	Underperform Votes 145 42.52%
Landmark Bancorp	Outperform Votes 172 56.21%	Underperform Votes 134 43.79%

Is ESQ or LARK a better dividend stock?

Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Landmark Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Esquire Financial pays out 13.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Landmark Bancorp pays out 37.0% 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 refer more to ESQ or LARK?

In the previous week, Esquire Financial had 6 more articles in the media than Landmark Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Esquire Financial and 0 mentions for Landmark Bancorp. Landmark Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.68 beat Esquire Financial's score of 1.05 indicating that Landmark Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Esquire Financial	Positive
Landmark Bancorp	Very Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, ESQ or LARK?

Esquire Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Landmark Bancorp. Landmark Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Esquire Financial, 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
Esquire Financial	$124.82M	5.44	$43.66M	$5.16	15.61
Landmark Bancorp	$60.47M	2.65	$13M	$2.27	12.22

Summary

Esquire Financial beats Landmark Bancorp on 18 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.