First Bancshares (FBMS) Competitors

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) and First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking and dividends.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, AMTB or FBMS?

First Bancshares has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Amerant Bancorp. First Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amerant Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amerant Bancorp	$636.08M	1.24	$32.49M	$0.68	34.32
First Bancshares	$283.32M	2.84	$75.46M	$2.52	10.24

Does the media prefer AMTB or FBMS?

In the previous week, First Bancshares had 1 more articles in the media than Amerant Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for First Bancshares and 0 mentions for Amerant Bancorp. First Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Amerant Bancorp'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Amerant Bancorp	Neutral
First Bancshares	Neutral

Is AMTB or FBMS more profitable?

First Bancshares has a net margin of 20.00% compared to First Bancshares' net margin of 3.51%. Amerant Bancorp's return on equity of 9.73% beat First Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amerant Bancorp	3.51%	7.65%	0.58%
First Bancshares	20.00%	9.73%	1.14%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AMTB or FBMS?

First Bancshares received 175 more outperform votes than Amerant Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.32% of users gave First Bancshares an outperform vote while only 46.67% of users gave Amerant Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Amerant Bancorp	Outperform Votes 56 46.67%	Underperform Votes 64 53.33%
First Bancshares	Outperform Votes 231 57.32%	Underperform Votes 172 42.68%

Do analysts rate AMTB or FBMS?

Amerant Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $25.75, suggesting a potential upside of 10.33%. First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $31.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.16%. Given Amerant Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Bancshares is more favorable than Amerant Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amerant Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
First Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AMTB or FBMS?

42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.9% of First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.5% of Amerant Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of First Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AMTB or FBMS a better dividend stock?

Amerant Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Amerant Bancorp pays out 52.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Bancshares pays out 39.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. First Bancshares has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. First Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, AMTB or FBMS?

Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Bancshares has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Bancshares beats Amerant Bancorp on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.