FBMS vs. AMTB, DCOM, BFC, OCFC, SASR, HAFC, CAC, ALRS, AROW, and BDGE
Should you be buying First Bancshares stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Bancshares include Amerant Bancorp (AMTB), Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM), Bank First (BFC), OceanFirst Financial (OCFC), Sandy Spring Bancorp (SASR), Hanmi Financial (HAFC), Camden National (CAC), Alerus Financial (ALRS), Arrow Financial (AROW), and Bridge Bancorp (BDGE). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FBMS 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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