Oddball Stocks Newsletter Excerpt: U & I Financial Corp from Issue 33

We wrote an update on U & I Financial Corp., in the Oddball Stocks Newsletter, Issue 33:

The “K-Banks” are known for being a good lending source for Korean-American small business borrowers. It is an interesting niche since there are barriers to entry (like language fluency) that make it harder for other banks to serve these customers. The K-Banks seem to focus on lending to their base and staying very well capitalized. They are less aggressive about buying back stock and dividend payments are not always consistent. UNIF has not paid a dividend since 2018. FIEB has not paid a dividend since 2016. OPBK pays a regular dividend (currently yielding 3%) and bought back stock last year, but it does not trade at a TBV discount.

It is a recurring theme with Oddballs and value investing: if there isn't something a prospective investor could complain about, it isn't going to be cheap. The question is pricing the flaws. The K-Banks we have mentioned (FIEB, OPBK, UNIF) are all pretty similar but OPBK is NASDAQ listed and better about returning capital to shareholders. It is also much more expensive.

OBN - UNIF - Issue 33 (January 2021) by Nate Tobik on Scribd