However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. Although other factors naturally played a role, the company's strong earnings growth was key. Looking at where the stock is today compared to one year ago, we find that it is not only higher, but it has also clearly outperformed the rise in the S&P 500 over the same period.In fact, the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings. Looking ahead, although the push and pull of the overall market trend could certainly make a critical difference, we do not see any strong reason stemming from the company's fundamentals that would cause a continuation of last year's decline. This is probably due to its weak earnings growth as well as other mixed factors. In its most recent trading session, AUBN has closed at a price level that was not very different from its closing price of one year earlier.Compared to other companies in the Commercial Banks industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, AUBURN NATIONAL BANCORP has outperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior.The net income increased by 9.6% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $1.73 million to $1.90 million. The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the Commercial Banks industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500.During the past fiscal year, AUBURN NATIONAL BANCORP increased its bottom line by earning $2.04 versus $1.94 in the prior year. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years.
AUBURN NATIONAL BANCORP has improved earnings per share by 10.6% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago.Buying a Russell 2000 stock that TheStreet Ratings rated a "buy" yielded a 9.5% return in 2014, beating the Russell 2000 index, including dividends reinvested, by 460 basis points last year. The model is both objective, using elements such as volatility of past operating revenues, financial strength, and company cash flows, and subjective, including expected equities market returns, future interest rates, implied industry outlook and forecasted company earnings.Ä«uying an S&P 500 stock that TheStreet Ratings rated a "buy" yielded a 16.56% return in 2014 beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by 304 basis points. Based on 32 major data points, TheStreet Ratings uses a quantitative approach to rating over 4,300 stocks to predict return potential for the next year. TheStreet Ratings, TheStreet's proprietary ratings tool, projects a stock's total return potential over a 12-month period including both price appreciation and dividends. Still there are plenty of community bank stocks worth considering.