ISTR vs. MYFW, PEBK, MBCN, CWBC, BWFG, CALB, FFNW, COFS, OPBK, and FINW
Should you be buying Investar stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Investar include First Western Financial (MYFW), Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (PEBK), Middlefield Banc (MBCN), Community West Bancshares (CWBC), Bankwell Financial Group (BWFG), California BanCorp (CALB), First Financial Northwest (FFNW), ChoiceOne Financial Services (COFS), OP Bancorp (OPBK), and FinWise Bancorp (FINW). These companies are all part of the "state commercial banks" industry.
Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) and First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings and community ranking.
Investar has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Western Financial. Investar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Western Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Investar has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Western Financial has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Investar has a net margin of 12.02% compared to First Western Financial's net margin of 4.28%. Investar's return on equity of 8.25% beat First Western Financial's return on equity.
In the previous week, Investar's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat First Western Financial's score of 0.00 indicating that Investar is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Investar currently has a consensus price target of $16.08, suggesting a potential downside of 1.57%. First Western Financial has a consensus price target of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.88%. Given First Western Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Western Financial is more favorable than Investar.
Investar received 149 more outperform votes than First Western Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.11% of users gave Investar an outperform vote while only 48.87% of users gave First Western Financial an outperform vote.
50.2% of Investar shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.3% of First Western Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Investar shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.7% of First Western Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Investar beats First Western Financial on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ISTR and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This 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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