BFST vs. MSBI, CCBG, MBWM, FCBC, MCBS, SMBK, FFIC, MOFG, BCAL, and PLBC
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), Capital City Bank Group (CCBG), Mercantile Bank (MBWM), First Community Bankshares (FCBC), MetroCity Bankshares (MCBS), SmartFinancial (SMBK), Flushing Financial (FFIC), MidWestOne Financial Group (MOFG), Southern California Bancorp (BCAL), and Plumas Bancorp (PLBC).
Midland States Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSBI) and Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.
Midland States Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.95, meaning 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.
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.
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.
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 1.45 beat Midland States Bancorp's score of 1.34 indicating that Midland States Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Midland States Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $25.63, indicating a potential upside of 12.99%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $23.33, indicating a potential upside of 12.83%. Given Business First Bancshares' higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Midland States Bancorp is more favorable than Business First Bancshares.
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 2.7%. 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.
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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
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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