Small Cap Thrifts That Will Be Tempting Takeover Targets in 2015

With a dozen small cap thrifts becoming eligible for mergers this year, as first highlighted in an SNL Financial report in February, some may be more attractive than others, according to The Deal's Michael Brown. Hamilton Bancorp is relatively cheap on a price to tangible book value basis, yet has strong tangible common equity and efficiency ratios, suggesting it's undervalued with healthy assets. Like Hamilton, Polonia Bancorp and Meetinghouse Bancorp have poor return on average assets and price to tangible book value ratios but stronger efficiency and tangible common equity ratios. Meetinghouse of Dorchester, Massachusetts has just $114 million in assets and operates in an already-highly consolidated market. Polonia, of Hudson Valley, Pennsylvania, has an activist shareholder who could push for the bank to explore sales.