BFST vs. MSBI, MBWM, MCBS, CCBG, FCBC, INDB, PPBI, SBCF, HTH, and TOWN
Should you be buying Business First Bancshares stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Business First Bancshares include Midland States Bancorp (MSBI), Mercantile Bank (MBWM), MetroCity Bankshares (MCBS), Capital City Bank Group (CCBG), First Community Bankshares (FCBC), Independent Bank (INDB), Pacific Premier Bancorp (PPBI), Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (SBCF), Hilltop (HTH), and TowneBank (TOWN). These companies are all part of the "state commercial banks" industry.
Midland States Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSBI) and Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) 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, community ranking, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and media sentiment.
Midland States Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Midland States Bancorp pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Business First Bancshares pays out 22.0% 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. Midland States Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years and Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Midland States Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Midland States Bancorp received 48 more outperform votes than Business First Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.73% of users gave Business First Bancshares an outperform vote while only 46.79% of users gave Midland States Bancorp an outperform vote.
60.9% of Midland States Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Midland States Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Midland States Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $25.63, suggesting a potential upside of 12.79%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $23.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.78%. Given Business First Bancshares' higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Midland States Bancorp is more favorable than Business First Bancshares.
Midland States Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Business First Bancshares. Midland States Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Business First Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Midland States Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock 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 15.17%. Midland States Bancorp's return on equity of 12.80% beat Business First Bancshares' return on equity.
In the previous week, Business First Bancshares had 2 more articles in the media than Midland States Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Business First Bancshares and 2 mentions for Midland States Bancorp. Business First Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.83 beat Midland States Bancorp's score of 1.34 indicating that Midland States Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Business First Bancshares beats Midland States 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.
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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