Southern States Bancshares (NasdaqGS:SSBK) - Share price, News & Analysis

Q: What is the Fair Price of SSBK when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.

SSBK ($23.2) is trading below our estimate of [[fair value]] ($52.86)

SSBK fundamental analysis
Snowflake Score
Valuation	3/6
Future Growth	2/6
Past Performance	4/6
Financial Health	6/6
Dividends	2/6

SSBK Stock Overview

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern States Bank that provides community banking services to businesses and individuals.

Rewards

Trading at 56.1% below our estimate of its fair value

Earnings are forecast to grow 10.6% per year

Earnings grew by 16.5% over the past year

Risk Analysis

Unstable dividend track record

Southern States Bancshares Competitors

Cashmere Valley Bank

OTCPK:CSHX

US$202.9m

Codorus Valley Bancorp

NasdaqGM:CVLY

US$200.3m

Truxton

OTCPK:TRUX

US$200.0m

Evans Bancorp

NYSEAM:EVBN

US$199.5m

Price History & Performance

Summary of all time highs, changes and price drops for Southern States Bancshares
Historical stock prices
Current Share Price	US$23.20
52 Week High	US$26.06
52 Week Low	US$18.90
Beta	0
1 Month Change	3.34%
3 Month Change	0.96%
1 Year Change	n/a
3 Year Change	n/a
5 Year Change	n/a
Change since IPO	17.35%

Recent News & Updates

Jul 29

Earnings Beat: Southern States Bancshares, Inc. Just Beat Analyst Forecasts, And Analysts Have Been Updating Their Models

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. ( NASDAQ:SSBK ) defied analyst predictions to release its second-quarter results...

Jul 20

Southern States Bancshares declares $0.09 dividend

Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK) declared $0.09/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 1.52% Payable Aug. 17; for shareholders of record Aug. 4; ex-div Aug. 3. See SSBK Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth.

Shareholder Returns

	SSBK	US Banks	US Market
7D	-1.3%	0.3%	1.0%
1Y	n/a	-14.1%	-12.9%

Return vs Industry: Insufficient data to determine how SSBK performed against the US Banks industry.

Return vs Market: Insufficient data to determine how SSBK performed against the US Market.

Price Volatility

Is SSBK's price volatile compared to industry and market?
SSBK volatility
SSBK Average Weekly Movement	3.5%
Banks Industry Average Movement	3.7%
Market Average Movement	7.9%
10% most volatile stocks in US Market	17.1%
10% least volatile stocks in US Market	3.2%

Stable Share Price: SSBK is less volatile than 75% of US stocks over the past 3 months, typically moving +/- 3% a week.

Volatility Over Time: SSBK's weekly volatility (3%) has been stable over the past year.

About the Company

Founded	Employees	CEO	Website
2007	196	Steve Whatley	https://southernstatesbank.net

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern States Bank that provides community banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, such as savings, money market, and noninterest-bearing demand accounts; certificates of deposit; and time deposits. The company also provides real estate loan products, which include loans for real estate construction and development, residential mortgages, and commercial real estate mortgage loans; commercial and industrial loans; and direct consumer installment loans, overdrafts, and other revolving credit loans.

Southern States Bancshares Fundamentals Summary

How do Southern States Bancshares's earnings and revenue compare to its market cap?
SSBK fundamental statistics
Market Cap	US$201.65m
Earnings (TTM)	US$18.76m
Revenue (TTM)	US$62.27m

10.7x

P/E Ratio

1.2x

P/B Ratio

Is SSBK overvalued?

See Fair Value and valuation analysis

Earnings & Revenue

Key profitability statistics from the latest earnings report
SSBK income statement (TTM)
Revenue	US$62.27m
Cost of Revenue	US$0
Gross Profit	US$62.27m
Other Expenses	US$43.51m
Earnings	US$18.76m

Last Reported Earnings

Jun 30, 2022

Next Earnings Date

n/a

Earnings per share (EPS)	2.16
Gross Margin	100.00%
Net Profit Margin	30.13%
Debt/Equity Ratio	42.9%

How did SSBK perform over the long term?

See historical performance and comparison

Dividends

1.6%

Current Dividend Yield

13%

Payout Ratio

We’ve recently updated our valuation analysis.

Valuation

Is SSBK undervalued compared to its fair value, analyst forecasts and its price relative to the market?

Valuation Score

3/6

Valuation Score 3/6

Price-To-Earnings vs Peers
Price-To-Earnings vs Industry
Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio
Below Fair Value
Significantly Below Fair Value
Analyst Forecast

Key Valuation Metric

Which metric is best to use when looking at relative valuation for SSBK?

Other financial metrics that can be useful for relative valuation.

The above table shows the n/a ratio for SSBK. This is calculated by dividing SSBK's market cap by their current preferred multiple.
What is SSBK's n/a Ratio?
n/a Ratio	0x
n/a	n/a
Market Cap	US$201.65m

SSBK key valuation metrics and ratios. From Price to Earnings, Price to Sales and Price to Book to Price to Earnings Growth Ratio, Enterprise Value and EBITDA.
Key Statistics
Enterprise Value/Revenue	n/a
Enterprise Value/EBITDA	n/a
PEG Ratio	1x

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Peers

How does SSBK's PE Ratio compare to its peers?

SSBK PE Ratio vs Peers

The above table shows the PE ratio for SSBK vs its peers. Here we also display the market cap and forecasted growth for additional consideration.
Company	PE	Estimated Growth	Market Cap
Peer Average	7.5x
CSHX Cashmere Valley Bank	7.3x	n/a	US$202.9m
CVLY Codorus Valley Bancorp	16x	n/a	US$200.3m
TRUX Truxton	12.6x	n/a	US$200.0m
EVBN Evans Bancorp	8.5x	1.2%	US$199.5m
SSBK Southern States Bancshares	10.7x	10.6%	US$201.6m

Price-To-Earnings vs Peers: SSBK is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (10.7x) compared to the peer average (7.5x).

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Industry

How does SSBK's PE Ratio compare vs other companies in the US Banks Industry?

Price-To-Earnings vs Industry: SSBK is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (10.7x) compared to the US Banks industry average (9.8x)

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Fair Ratio

What is SSBK's PE Ratio compared to its Fair PE Ratio? This is the expected PE Ratio taking into account the company's forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.

SSBK PE Ratio vs Fair Ratio.
Fair Ratio
Current PE Ratio	10.7x
Fair PE Ratio	12.3x

Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio: SSBK is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (10.7x) compared to the estimated Fair Price-To-Earnings Ratio (12.3x).

Share Price vs Fair Value

What is the Fair Price of SSBK when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.

Below Fair Value: SSBK ($23.2) is trading below our estimate of fair value ($52.86)

Significantly Below Fair Value: SSBK is trading below fair value by more than 20%.

Analyst Price Targets

What is the analyst 12-month forecast and do we have any statistical confidence in the consensus price target?

Analyst Forecast: Target price is less than 20% higher than the current share price.

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Future Growth

How is Southern States Bancshares forecast to perform in the next 1 to 3 years based on estimates from 2 analysts?

Future Growth Score

2/6

Future Growth Score 2/6

Earnings vs Savings Rate
Earnings vs Market
High Growth Earnings
Revenue vs Market
High Growth Revenue
Future ROE

10.6%

Forecasted annual earnings growth

Earnings and Revenue Growth Forecasts

Analyst Future Growth Forecasts

Earnings vs Savings Rate: SSBK's forecast earnings growth (10.6% per year) is above the savings rate (1.9%).

Earnings vs Market: SSBK's earnings (10.6% per year) are forecast to grow slower than the US market (12.8% per year).

High Growth Earnings: SSBK's earnings are forecast to grow, but not significantly.

Revenue vs Market: SSBK's revenue (11.2% per year) is forecast to grow faster than the US market (7.9% per year).

High Growth Revenue: SSBK's revenue (11.2% per year) is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.

Earnings per Share Growth Forecasts

Future Return on Equity

Future ROE: Insufficient data to determine if SSBK's Return on Equity is forecast to be high in 3 years time

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Past Performance

How has Southern States Bancshares performed over the past 5 years?

Past Performance Score

4/6

Past Performance Score 4/6

Quality Earnings
Growing Profit Margin
Earnings Trend
Accelerating Growth
Earnings vs Industry
High ROE

27.8%

Historical annual earnings growth

Earnings and Revenue History

Quality Earnings: SSBK has high quality earnings.

Growing Profit Margin: SSBK's current net profit margins (30.1%) are higher than last year (29.6%).

Past Earnings Growth Analysis

Earnings Trend: SSBK's earnings have grown significantly by 27.8% per year over the past 5 years.

Accelerating Growth: SSBK's earnings growth over the past year (16.5%) is below its 5-year average (27.8% per year).

Earnings vs Industry: SSBK earnings growth over the past year (16.5%) exceeded the Banks industry 9.2%.

Return on Equity

High ROE: SSBK's Return on Equity (11.2%) is considered low.

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Financial Health

How is Southern States Bancshares's financial position? (This company is analysed differently as a bank or financial institution)

Financial Health Score

6/6

Financial Health Score 6/6

Asset Level
Allowance for Bad Loans
Low Risk Liabilities
Loan Level
Low Risk Deposits
Level of Bad Loans

Financial Position Analysis

Debt to Equity History and Analysis

Balance Sheet

Financial Institutions Analysis

Asset Level: SSBK's Assets to Equity ratio (11.3x) is moderate.

Allowance for Bad Loans: SSBK has a sufficient allowance for bad loans (473%).

Low Risk Liabilities: 95% of SSBK's liabilities are made up of primarily low risk sources of funding.

Loan Level: SSBK has an appropriate level of Loans to Assets ratio (74%).

Low Risk Deposits: SSBK's Loans to Deposits ratio (86%) is appropriate.

Level of Bad Loans: SSBK has an appropriate level of bad loans (0.2%).

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Dividend

What is Southern States Bancshares's current dividend yield, its reliability and sustainability?

Dividend Score

2/6

Dividend Score 2/6

Notable Dividend
High Dividend
Stable Dividend
Growing Dividend
Earnings Coverage
Future Dividend Coverage

1.55%

Current Dividend Yield

Dividend Yield vs Market

Notable Dividend: SSBK's dividend (1.55%) is higher than the bottom 25% of dividend payers in the US market (1.52%).

High Dividend: SSBK's dividend (1.55%) is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the US market (4.09%).

Stability and Growth of Payments

Stable Dividend: Too early to tell whether SSBK's dividend payments have been stable as they only just started paying a dividend.

Growing Dividend: Too early to tell if SSBK's dividend payments are increasing as they only just started paying a dividend.

Current Payout to Shareholders

Earnings Coverage: With its low payout ratio (12.6%), SSBK's dividend payments are thoroughly covered by earnings.

Future Payout to Shareholders

Future Dividend Coverage: Insufficient data to determine if a dividend will be paid in 3 years or that it will be covered by earnings.

Discover strong dividend paying companies

Management

How experienced are the management team and are they aligned to shareholders interests?

3.6yrs

Average management tenure

CEO

Steve Whatley (69 yo)

15.58yrs

Tenure

US$1,013,922

Compensation

Mr. Stephen Woods Whatley, also known as Steve, serves as the Chairman of Southern States Bancshares, Inc. since 2014 and also serves as its Chief Executive Officer since 2007. He serves as Chairman of the...

CEO Compensation Analysis

Compensation vs Market: Steve's total compensation ($USD1.01M) is below average for companies of similar size in the US market ($USD1.67M).

Compensation vs Earnings: Steve's compensation has been consistent with company performance over the past year.

Leadership Team

Experienced Management: SSBK's management team is considered experienced (3.6 years average tenure).

Board Members

Experienced Board: SSBK's board of directors are seasoned and experienced ( 13.6 years average tenure).

Ownership

Who are the major shareholders and have insiders been buying or selling?

Insider Trading Volume

Insider Buying: SSBK insiders have bought more shares than they have sold in the past 3 months.

Recent Insider Transactions

Ownership Breakdown

Dilution of Shares: SSBK only recently listed within the past 12 months.

Data	Last Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis	2022/08/06 00:00
End of Day Share Price	2022/08/05 00:00
Earnings	2022/06/30
Annual Earnings	2021/12/31