National Bankshares (NKSH) Competitors

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

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in MBWM or NKSH?

58.6% of Mercantile Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.7% of National Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Mercantile Bank shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of National Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MBWM or NKSH a better dividend stock?

Mercantile Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. National Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Mercantile Bank pays out 28.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. National Bankshares pays out 107.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mercantile Bank has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend MBWM or NKSH?

Mercantile Bank currently has a consensus target price of $54.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.03%. National Bankshares has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.42%. Given National Bankshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe National Bankshares is more favorable than Mercantile Bank.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mercantile Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
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 MBWM or NKSH?

In the previous week, National Bankshares had 3 more articles in the media than Mercantile Bank. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for National Bankshares and 1 mentions for Mercantile Bank. Mercantile Bank's average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat National Bankshares' score of -0.16 indicating that Mercantile Bank is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mercantile Bank	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
National Bankshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is MBWM or NKSH more profitable?

Mercantile Bank has a net margin of 22.77% compared to National Bankshares' net margin of 11.44%. Mercantile Bank's return on equity of 14.59% beat National Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mercantile Bank	22.77%	14.59%	1.43%
National Bankshares	11.44%	5.85%	0.50%

Which has better earnings and valuation, MBWM or NKSH?

Mercantile Bank has higher revenue and earnings than National Bankshares. Mercantile Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Bankshares, 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
Mercantile Bank	$229.89M	3.06	$82.22M	$4.98	8.75
National Bankshares	$43.84M	4.07	$15.69M	$1.45	19.35

Which has more risk & volatility, MBWM or NKSH?

Mercantile Bank has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Bankshares has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MBWM or NKSH?

Mercantile Bank received 84 more outperform votes than National Bankshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.90% of users gave Mercantile Bank an outperform vote while only 49.89% of users gave National Bankshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mercantile Bank	Outperform Votes 311 58.90%	Underperform Votes 217 41.10%
National Bankshares	Outperform Votes 227 49.89%	Underperform Votes 228 50.11%

Summary

Mercantile Bank beats National Bankshares on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.