Catalyst Bancorp (CLST) Competitors

First National (NASDAQ:FXNC) and Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Do analysts rate FXNC or CLST?

First National presently has a consensus price target of $24.75, suggesting a potential upside of 11.44%. Given First National's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe First National is more favorable than Catalyst Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First National	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Catalyst Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is FXNC or CLST more profitable?

First National has a net margin of 7.51% compared to Catalyst Bancorp's net margin of 0.00%. First National's return on equity of 12.09% beat Catalyst Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First National	7.51%	12.09%	1.01%
Catalyst Bancorp	N/A	-3.78%	-1.08%

Which has more volatility and risk, FXNC or CLST?

First National has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.14, suggesting that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to FXNC or CLST?

In the previous week, First National and First National both had 2 articles in the media. First National's average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat Catalyst Bancorp's score of 0.94 indicating that First National is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First National	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Catalyst Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FXNC or CLST?

First National received 3 more outperform votes than Catalyst Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 37.50% of users gave First National an outperform vote while only 0.00% of users gave Catalyst Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First National	Outperform Votes 3 37.50%	Underperform Votes 5 62.50%
Catalyst Bancorp	Outperform Votes No Votes	Underperform Votes 1 100.00%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of FXNC or CLST?

33.9% of First National shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 16.5% of First National shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, FXNC or CLST?

First National has higher revenue and earnings than Catalyst Bancorp. Catalyst Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First National, 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 National	$64.40M	3.09	$6.97M	$1.16	19.15
Catalyst Bancorp	$5.56M	9.10	-$3.09M	-$0.74	-15.74

Summary

First National beats Catalyst Bancorp on 15 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.