BFST vs. HBNC, CCB, TRST, IBCP, EQBK, CPF, CATC, MSBI, HTBK, and EGBN
Should you be buying Business First Bancshares stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Business First Bancshares include Horizon Bancorp (HBNC), Coastal Financial (CCB), TrustCo Bank Corp NY (TRST), Independent Bank (IBCP), Equity Bancshares (EQBK), Central Pacific Financial (CPF), Cambridge Bancorp (CATC), Midland States Bancorp (MSBI), Heritage Commerce (HTBK), and Eagle Bancorp (EGBN). These companies are all part of the "state commercial banks" industry.
Horizon Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBNC) and Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, risk, valuation, dividends and media sentiment.
Business First Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Horizon Bancorp. Business First Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Horizon Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Horizon Bancorp received 182 more outperform votes than Business First Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.63% of users gave Horizon Bancorp an outperform vote while only 57.73% of users gave Business First Bancshares an outperform vote.
Horizon Bancorp has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Business First Bancshares has a net margin of 17.08% compared to Business First Bancshares' net margin of 7.02%. Horizon Bancorp's return on equity of 12.80% beat Business First Bancshares' return on equity.
Horizon Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Horizon Bancorp pays out 118.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Business First Bancshares pays out 22.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Horizon Bancorp has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Business First Bancshares has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Horizon Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
64.5% of Horizon Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Horizon Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Business First Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Horizon Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than Business First Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Horizon Bancorp and 4 mentions for Business First Bancshares. Horizon Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.64 beat Business First Bancshares' score of 0.15 indicating that Business First Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Horizon Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $12.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.16%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $23.33, suggesting a potential upside of 9.65%. Given Horizon Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Business First Bancshares is more favorable than Horizon Bancorp.
Summary
Business First Bancshares beats Horizon Bancorp on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding BFST and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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