Mid-Southern Bancorp (MSVB) Competitors

Mid-Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSVB) and Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MSVB or MRBK?

10.1% of Mid-Southern Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of Meridian Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of Mid-Southern Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.4% of Meridian Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate MSVB or MRBK?

Meridian Bank has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 13.56%. Given Meridian Bank's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Meridian Bank is more favorable than Mid-Southern Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mid-Southern Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Meridian Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MSVB or MRBK?

Meridian Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Mid-Southern Bancorp. Mid-Southern Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Meridian 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
Mid-Southern Bancorp	$8.88M	5.22	$1.46M	-$2.34	-7.06
Meridian Bank	$197.37M	0.88	$16.35M	$1.61	9.57

Does the media refer more to MSVB or MRBK?

In the previous week, Meridian Bank had 5 more articles in the media than Mid-Southern Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Meridian Bank and 0 mentions for Mid-Southern Bancorp. Meridian Bank's average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat Mid-Southern Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Meridian Bank is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Mid-Southern Bancorp	Neutral
Meridian Bank	Very Positive

Is MSVB or MRBK a better dividend stock?

Mid-Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Meridian Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Mid-Southern Bancorp pays out -5.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Meridian Bank pays out 31.1% 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.

Is MSVB or MRBK more profitable?

Mid-Southern Bancorp has a net margin of 9.43% compared to Meridian Bank's net margin of 9.01%. Meridian Bank's return on equity of 10.62% beat Mid-Southern Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mid-Southern Bancorp	9.43%	3.08%	0.45%
Meridian Bank	9.01%	10.62%	0.75%

Which has more risk and volatility, MSVB or MRBK?

Mid-Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.17, indicating that its stock price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Meridian Bank has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Meridian Bank beats Mid-Southern Bancorp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.