AmeriServ Financial (ASRV) Competitors

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

Is FUNC or ASRV a better dividend stock?

First United pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. AmeriServ Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. First United pays out 27.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AmeriServ Financial pays out 57.1% 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.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of FUNC or ASRV?

33.3% of First United shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.5% of AmeriServ Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 7.9% of First United shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of AmeriServ Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate FUNC or ASRV?

First United presently has a consensus target price of $42.00, suggesting a potential upside of 50.00%. Given First United's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe First United is more favorable than AmeriServ Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First United	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
AmeriServ Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more volatility and risk, FUNC or ASRV?

First United has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AmeriServ Financial has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FUNC or ASRV more profitable?

First United has a net margin of 18.45% compared to AmeriServ Financial's net margin of 4.26%. First United's return on equity of 12.51% beat AmeriServ Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First United	18.45%	12.51%	1.11%
AmeriServ Financial	4.26%	3.42%	0.26%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FUNC or ASRV?

AmeriServ Financial received 5 more outperform votes than First United when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.68% of users gave First United an outperform vote while only 61.60% of users gave AmeriServ Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First United	Outperform Votes 141 64.68%	Underperform Votes 77 35.32%
AmeriServ Financial	Outperform Votes 146 61.60%	Underperform Votes 91 38.40%

Which has better valuation & earnings, FUNC or ASRV?

First United has higher earnings, but lower revenue than AmeriServ Financial. First United is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AmeriServ Financial, 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
First United	$79.79M	2.27	$20.57M	$3.15	8.89
AmeriServ Financial	$84.48M	0.46	$3.60M	$0.21	11.19

Does the media favor FUNC or ASRV?

In the previous week, First United and First United both had 2 articles in the media. First United's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat AmeriServ Financial's score of 1.00 indicating that First United is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First United	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AmeriServ Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

First United beats AmeriServ Financial on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.