Contrasting M&F Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MFBP) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC)

M&F Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MFBP) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares M&F Bancorp and Flushing Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
M&F Bancorp	$29.33 million	1.22	$4.77 million	N/A	N/A
Flushing Financial	$124.74 million	2.97	-$31.33 million	($1.01)	-10.85

M&F Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Flushing Financial.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of M&F Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

M&F Bancorp has a beta of -0.34, suggesting that its share price is 134% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

M&F Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.0%. Flushing Financial pays out -87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for M&F Bancorp and Flushing Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
M&F Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Flushing Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33

Flushing Financial has a consensus price target of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 47.52%. Given Flushing Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than M&F Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares M&F Bancorp and Flushing Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
M&F Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Flushing Financial	-6.46%	3.25%	0.24%

Summary

Flushing Financial beats M&F Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About M&F Bancorp

M&F Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Mechanics and Farmers Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in North Carolina. It offers deposit products, including demand deposits; checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company provides loans for commercial and residential real estate, and construction; and consumer and other loans; as well as ATM services. M&F Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.