Head to Head Analysis: MVB Financial (NASDAQ:MVBF) versus Bank of the James Financial Group (NASDAQ:BOTJ)

Bank of the James Financial Group (NASDAQ:BOTJ) and MVB Financial (NASDAQ:MVBF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

18.5% of Bank of the James Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.7% of MVB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.3% of Bank of the James Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of MVB Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bank of the James Financial Group and MVB Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank of the James Financial Group	$42.64 million	1.61	$8.70 million	$1.84	8.18
MVB Financial	$143.80 million	1.84	$31.23 million	$1.42	14.38

MVB Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of the James Financial Group. Bank of the James Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MVB Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Bank of the James Financial Group and MVB Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank of the James Financial Group	14.46%	13.36%	0.85%
MVB Financial	8.49%	6.29%	0.55%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Bank of the James Financial Group and MVB Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank of the James Financial Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
MVB Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67

MVB Financial has a consensus target price of $25.33, suggesting a potential upside of 24.06%. Given MVB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe MVB Financial is more favorable than Bank of the James Financial Group.

Volatility and Risk

Bank of the James Financial Group has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MVB Financial has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Bank of the James Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. MVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Bank of the James Financial Group pays out 21.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MVB Financial pays out 47.9% 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.

Summary

MVB Financial beats Bank of the James Financial Group on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank of the James Financial Group

Bank of the James Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the James that provides general retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, associations and organizations, and governmental authorities in Virginia, the United States. It offers checking, savings, individual retirement, and health care saving accounts, as well as other time deposits, including money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The company also provides loans to small- and medium-sized businesses for the purchases of equipment, facilities upgrades, inventory acquisition, and various working capital purposes; commercial and residential construction and development loans; commercial real estate mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; and secured and unsecured consumer loans, such as lines of credit and overdraft lines of credit, as well as personal, automobile, installment, demand, and home equity loans for personal, family, or household purposes. In addition, it offers other banking services, including safe deposit boxes, traveler's checks, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, automatic drafts for various accounts, treasury management, and credit card merchant services. Further, the company provides mortgage banking; investment advisory services; securities brokerage and investment services; and telephone and internet banking services comprising online bill pay, as well as acts as an agent for insurance and annuity products. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia.

About MVB Financial

MVB Financial Corp. operates as bank holding company for MVB Bank, Inc that provides financial services to individuals and corporate clients. The company operates through three segments: CoRe Banking, Mortgage Banking, and The Financial Holding Company. It offers various demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and commercial, consumer, and real estate mortgage loans, as well as lines of credit. The company also provides debit cards; cashier's checks; safe deposit rental facilities; and non-deposit investment services, as well as financial technology (Fintech) banking services. In addition, it offers fintech solutions for the gaming, payments, banking-as-a-service, and digital asset sectors; fraud prevention services for merchants, credit agencies, Fintech companies, and other vendors; and digital products and web and mobile applications for forward-thinking community banks, credit unions, digital banks, and Fintech companies. It operates full-service branches in West Virginia and Virginia. MVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1997 and is based in Fairmont, West Virginia.