Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC) Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do analysts prefer BUSE or EFSC?

First Busey currently has a consensus price target of $27.67, indicating a potential upside of 15.94%. Enterprise Financial Services has a consensus price target of $64.33, indicating a potential upside of 12.42%. Given First Busey's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Enterprise Financial Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Enterprise Financial Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is BUSE or EFSC a better dividend stock?

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Enterprise Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. First Busey pays out 93.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Enterprise Financial Services pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Enterprise Financial Services has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, BUSE or EFSC?

Enterprise Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. Enterprise Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, 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 Busey	$663.36M	3.22	$113.69M	$1.07	22.30
Enterprise Financial Services	$920.75M	2.30	$185.27M	$5.10	11.22

Which has more volatility and risk, BUSE or EFSC?

First Busey has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enterprise Financial Services has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BUSE or EFSC more profitable?

Enterprise Financial Services has a net margin of 20.92% compared to First Busey's net margin of 8.32%. Enterprise Financial Services' return on equity of 11.14% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	8.32%	8.46%	0.96%
Enterprise Financial Services	20.92%	11.14%	1.28%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of BUSE or EFSC?

56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.2% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Enterprise Financial Services 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.

Does the media favor BUSE or EFSC?

In the previous week, First Busey had 9 more articles in the media than Enterprise Financial Services. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for First Busey and 2 mentions for Enterprise Financial Services. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Enterprise Financial Services' score of 0.94 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Enterprise Financial Services	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Enterprise Financial Services beats First Busey on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.