Reviewing Magyar Bancorp (NASDAQ:MGYR) and Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA)

Magyar Bancorp (NASDAQ:MGYR) and Chester Bancorp (OTCMKTS:CNBA) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Magyar Bancorp and Chester Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Magyar Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Chester Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Magyar Bancorp and Chester Bancorp’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Magyar Bancorp	$40.75 million	2.02	$7.71 million	$1.20	10.42
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Magyar Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Chester Bancorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

46.3% of Magyar Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.5% of Magyar Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 38.8% of Chester Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Magyar Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Chester Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.3%. Magyar Bancorp pays out 16.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Magyar Bancorp has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Magyar Bancorp and Chester Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Magyar Bancorp	15.19%	6.98%	0.81%
Chester Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Magyar Bancorp has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chester Bancorp has a beta of -0.04, meaning that its share price is 104% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Magyar Bancorp beats Chester Bancorp on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Magyar Bancorp

Magyar Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Magyar Bank that provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in New Jersey, the United States. It accepts various deposit accounts, including demand, savings, NOW, money market, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides residential mortgage loans, multi-family and commercial real estate mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, commercial business loans, and construction loans, as well as small business administration loans. In addition, it offers non-deposit investment products and financial planning services, including insurance products, fixed and variable annuities, and retirement planning for individual and commercial customers; and buys, sells, and holds investment securities. The company has branch offices located in New Brunswick, North Brunswick, South Brunswick, Branchburg, Bridgewater, and Edison, New Jersey. Magyar Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

About Chester Bancorp

Chester Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Chester National Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Chester, Illinois. It offers checking accounts, such as regular checking, student checking, golden checking, and club checking accounts; savings accounts, including statement savings, Christmas club, and money market accounts; and certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans comprising mortgage, construction, lot, home equity, consumer, and business loans; and reorder check services. It operates two full service offices in Sparta, Illinois; and Perryville, Missouri. Chester Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Chester, Illinois.