Mercantile Bank (MBWM) Competitors

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:IBCP) and Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Is IBCP or MBWM more profitable?

Mercantile Bank has a net margin of 22.77% compared to Independent Bank's net margin of 19.93%. Independent Bank's return on equity of 15.58% beat Mercantile Bank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Independent Bank	19.93%	15.58%	1.24%
Mercantile Bank	22.77%	14.91%	1.46%

Which has more risk and volatility, IBCP or MBWM?

Independent Bank has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercantile Bank has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings & valuation, IBCP or MBWM?

Mercantile Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Independent Bank. Mercantile Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Independent Bank, 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
Independent Bank	$203.04M	3.39	$59.07M	$2.94	11.19
Mercantile Bank	$229.89M	3.03	$82.22M	$4.98	8.68

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in IBCP or MBWM?

Mercantile Bank received 85 more outperform votes than Independent Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.82% of users gave Mercantile Bank an outperform vote while only 54.74% of users gave Independent Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Independent Bank	Outperform Votes 225 54.74%	Underperform Votes 186 45.26%
Mercantile Bank	Outperform Votes 310 58.82%	Underperform Votes 217 41.18%

Is IBCP or MBWM a better dividend stock?

Independent Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Mercantile Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Independent Bank pays out 32.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mercantile Bank pays out 28.9% 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. Mercantile Bank has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer IBCP or MBWM?

Independent Bank presently has a consensus price target of $32.17, indicating a potential downside of 2.23%. Mercantile Bank has a consensus price target of $52.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.34%. Given Mercantile Bank's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mercantile Bank is more favorable than Independent Bank.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Independent Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Mercantile Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Does the media prefer IBCP or MBWM?

In the previous week, Independent Bank had 13 more articles in the media than Mercantile Bank. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Independent Bank and 0 mentions for Mercantile Bank. Independent Bank's average media sentiment score of 0.56 beat Mercantile Bank's score of -0.10 indicating that Independent Bank is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Independent Bank	Positive
Mercantile Bank	Neutral

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of IBCP or MBWM?

79.4% of Independent Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of Mercantile Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Independent Bank shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Mercantile Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Mercantile Bank beats Independent Bank on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.