Looking For A List Of Bank Penny Stocks?
Bank Penny Stocks… Should You Invest?
Over the weekend, I was shuffling through the papers on my desk. What came to the top was a great article on the world’s strongest banks. I had ripped the article out of a magazine months ago.
Bloomberg had done a study on all the crazy things you need to look at to find strong banks.
They looked at Tier 1 assets, Nonperforming assets, Loan loss reserves, Deposit levels and Efficiency.
You’d need three months in an MBA class to dissect all of these ratios and measurement methods. Lucky for us, Bloomberg just ranked everyone… and told us the “strongest”.
Top of the list… Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong, followed by Desjardins Group Canada, and Norinchukin Bank in Japan.
You’d have to go all the way down to the 19th place before finding the first US bank on the list – US BanCorp $USB.
They clock in at a market cap of $77 billion.
Not exactly walking in penny stock land.
Why Bank Stocks Matter…
In the U.S., banks are the lifeblood of the economy. They provide much needed capital and support to our growing industries.
So having strong banks is critical.
But most of these big strong banks don’t really lend to the little guy.
Many people don’t realize what a critical role the community banks play lending to small business. More on that in a moment…
But strong banks can become even stronger with increased profitability… and the entire banking industry is on the verge of exploding profits.
How do I know?
All you need to do is keep an eye on the Federal Reserve.
For those of you NOT in the know… here’s a quick update.
The Fed pushed interest rates to record lows… and by record, I mean RECORD! Nobody in the last 1,000 years has seen interest rates this cheap.
They did it to keep us from falling into a great depression.
Now the economy is back and growing. As a result, the Fed has said (in not so many words) we’re going to raise rates soon.
How soon is soon?
They’re not answering that one… but many believe it will happen this summer.
Who cares about rates going up?
Why Banks Love Higher Rates…
Banks love it when rates go up. You see, there’s this little thing called the spread.
This is how banks make money… They borrow billions at a tiny rate, and lend it out at a higher rate. As interest rates rise, many suspect that the spread will widen.
Wider spreads mean stronger banks… and bigger profits!
And bigger profits means higher stock prices.
So, many investors are looking at bank stocks to help push the markets even higher.
While the big mega-banks will certainly make more money… it’s the small community banks that will start seeing the biggest gains.
You see, these community banks are tied to the local economy. They work with small business owners making loans, handling accounts, and taking deposits.
As the local economies start to jump in activity, more business will take place. More business means more transactions… which leads to more profits for the banks.
We’re already seeing it here in Phoenix… the rebounding housing market is impossible to miss.
And when the Fed does hike rates, it will get a lot of borrowers up OFF their backside. Many potential borrowers are in a daze… rates have been low for so long, they can’t remember the last time rates went UP!
When that rate hike hits, I’d expect a big rush of people wanting to refinance. And their first stop will be the local banks.
So, to really make money from the next bank rate hike, you need to have a handful of community banks in your investment portfolio.
But which should you watch and buy?
List of Bank Penny Stocks
Look, there are hundreds of bank stocks out there… and I have not gone through each and every one… but I did find a small basket of bank penny stocks that looked really interesting.
Now one note… as you know, we have a loose version of what a penny stock is… you can see our discussion about “What is a penny stock” here.
This group of stocks I’m about to highlight don’t trade for pennies. But they do have tiny market caps. What it means is you’ll buy fewer shares, but as the business grows, you should see nice gains.
I looked at each of these businesses and they all have market caps below $100 million… which is tiny when compared to our megabank US Bancorp (who clocks in at $77 BILLION).
If you like the idea of buying a bank penny stock, these are good ones to take a look at.
So here’s that list of bank penny stocks, and all of these trade on the OTCQX exchange:
- Cortland Bancorp $CLDB (Mkt cap $69m Div yield 1.5%)
- First BancTrust Corp. $FIRT (Mkt cap $35m Div yield 1.2%)
- First ULB Corp. $FUBP (Mkt cap $20m)
- Harleysville Savings Financial Corp $HARL (Mkt cap $68m Div yield 4.6%)
- Katahdin Bankshares Corp. $KTHN (Mkt cap $39m Div yield 3.4%)
- Standard Financial Corp. $STND (Mkt cap $60m)
- Calvin B. Taylor Bankshares, Inc. $TYCB (Mkt cap $77m Div yield 3.5%)
- Virginia National Bankshares Corporation $VABK (Mkt cap $59m Div yield 1.3%)
I like the look of these… and I might be adding a few to my own portfolio. If I do, I’ll let you know.
Do you bank at any of these institutions? Do you own any of these stocks? Why are you a buyer at these levels?
Good trading…
Brian Kent
Note: Brian Kent has been trading the markets for more than two decades and now writes and edits for PennyStockResearch.com. You can sign up for the penny stock research newsletter a trusted source for the truth about penny stocks! Sign up today and get a free research report – http://pennystockresearch.com/free-reports/.
Category: Penny Stock List
