National Bankshares (NKSH) Competitors

Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) and National Bankshares (NASDAQ:NKSH) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking and valuation.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, HWBK or NKSH?

National Bankshares has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Hawthorn Bancshares. National Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hawthorn Bancshares, 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
Hawthorn Bancshares	$99.50M	2.14	$960K	$0.90	33.80
National Bankshares	$68.19M	2.99	$15.69M	$1.45	22.10

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HWBK or NKSH?

National Bankshares received 52 more outperform votes than Hawthorn Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.35% of users gave Hawthorn Bancshares an outperform vote while only 50.48% of users gave National Bankshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hawthorn Bancshares	Outperform Votes 159 63.35%	Underperform Votes 92 36.65%
National Bankshares	Outperform Votes 211 50.48%	Underperform Votes 207 49.52%

Do analysts rate HWBK or NKSH?

National Bankshares has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.60%. Given National Bankshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe National Bankshares is more favorable than Hawthorn Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hawthorn Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
National Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor HWBK or NKSH?

In the previous week, National Bankshares had 4 more articles in the media than Hawthorn Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for National Bankshares and 1 mentions for Hawthorn Bancshares. National Bankshares' average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Hawthorn Bancshares' score of 0.03 indicating that National Bankshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hawthorn Bancshares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
National Bankshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, HWBK or NKSH?

Hawthorn Bancshares has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Bankshares has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HWBK or NKSH more profitable?

National Bankshares has a net margin of 11.44% compared to Hawthorn Bancshares' net margin of 5.67%. National Bankshares' return on equity of 5.85% beat Hawthorn Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hawthorn Bancshares	5.67%	4.46%	0.34%
National Bankshares	11.44%	5.85%	0.50%

Is HWBK or NKSH a better dividend stock?

Hawthorn Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. National Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Hawthorn Bancshares pays out 84.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. National Bankshares pays out 100.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HWBK or NKSH?

30.7% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.7% of National Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 23.4% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of National Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

National Bankshares beats Hawthorn Bancshares on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.