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What You Should Know About United Bancorp, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:UBCP) Risks

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The banking sector has been experiencing growth as a result of improving credit quality from post-GFC recovery. United Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBCP) is a small-cap bank with a market capitalisation of US$62m. Its profit and value are directly impacted by its borrowers’ ability to pay which is driven by the level of economic growth. This is because growth determines the stability of a borrower’s salary as well as the level of interest rates. Risk associated with repayment is measured by bad debt which is written off as an expense, impacting United Bancorp’s bottom line. Today I will take you through some bad debt and liability measures to analyse the level of risky assets held by the bank. Looking through a risk-lens is a useful way to assess the attractiveness of United Bancorp's a stock investment.

See our latest analysis for United Bancorp

NasdaqCM:UBCP Historical Debt, April 1st 2019
NasdaqCM:UBCP Historical Debt, April 1st 2019

Does United Bancorp Understand Its Own Risks?

United Bancorp’s ability to forecast and provision for its bad loans indicates it has a good understanding of the level of risk it is taking on. If the level of provisioning covers 100% or more of the actual bad debt expense the bank writes off, then the bank may be relatively accurate and prudent in its bad debt provisioning. Given its high non-performing loan allowance to non-performing loan ratio of 164.1% United Bancorp has cautiously over-provisioned 64.1% above its current level of non-performing loans. This could indicate a prudent forecasting methodology, or indicate that further bad loans are expected.

How Much Risk Is Too Much?

By nature, banks like United Bancorp are exposed to risky assets, by lending to borrowers who may not be able to repay their loans. Generally, loans that are “bad” and cannot be recovered by the bank should make up less than 3% of its total loans. When these loans are not repaid, they are written off as expenses which comes out directly from United Bancorp’s profit. Since bad loans only make up an insignificant 0.30% of its total assets, the bank may have very strict risk management - or perhaps the risks in its portfolio have not eventuated yet.

Is There Enough Safe Form Of Borrowing?

Handing Money Transparent
Handing Money Transparent

United Bancorp operates by lending out its various forms of borrowings. Customers’ deposits tend to carry the smallest risk given the relatively stable interest rate and amount available. As a rule, a bank is considered less risky if it holds a higher level of deposits. United Bancorp’s total deposit level of 97% of its total liabilities is very high and is well-above the sensible level of 50% for financial institutions. This may mean the bank is too cautious with its level of its safer form of borrowing and has plenty of headroom to take on risker forms of liability.

Next Steps:

UBCP's acquisition will impact the business moving forward. Keep an eye on how this decision plays out in the future, especially on its financial health and earnings growth. I’ve bookmarked UBCP’s company page on Simply Wall St to stay informed with changes in outlook and valuation. This is also the source of data for this article. The three main sections I’d recommend you check out are:

  1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for UBCP’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for UBCP’s outlook.

  2. Valuation: What is UBCP worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether UBCP is currently mispriced by the market.

  3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.

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