First Guaranty Bancshares (FGBI) Competitors

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

Does the media refer more to ESQ or FGBI?

In the previous week, Esquire Financial had 1 more articles in the media than First Guaranty Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Esquire Financial and 0 mentions for First Guaranty Bancshares. Esquire Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.09 beat First Guaranty Bancshares' score of 0.00 indicating that Esquire Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Esquire Financial	Neutral
First Guaranty Bancshares	Neutral

Do analysts prefer ESQ or FGBI?

Esquire Financial presently has a consensus price target of $69.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.95%. Given Esquire Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Esquire Financial is more favorable than First Guaranty Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Esquire Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
First Guaranty Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ESQ or FGBI?

Esquire Financial received 36 more outperform votes than First Guaranty Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.43% of users gave First Guaranty Bancshares an outperform vote while only 57.86% of users gave Esquire Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Esquire Financial	Outperform Votes 195 57.86%	Underperform Votes 142 42.14%
First Guaranty Bancshares	Outperform Votes 159 65.43%	Underperform Votes 84 34.57%

Is ESQ or FGBI a better dividend stock?

Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. First Guaranty Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Esquire Financial pays out 12.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Guaranty Bancshares pays out 38.1% 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.

Which has better earnings and valuation, ESQ or FGBI?

Esquire Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Guaranty Bancshares. First Guaranty Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Esquire 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
Esquire Financial	$121.64M	5.07	$41.01M	$4.97	14.92
First Guaranty Bancshares	$193.59M	0.81	$9.22M	$0.84	14.88

Is ESQ or FGBI more profitable?

Esquire Financial has a net margin of 31.38% compared to First Guaranty Bancshares' net margin of 5.32%. Esquire Financial's return on equity of 19.53% beat First Guaranty Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Esquire Financial	31.38%	19.53%	2.47%
First Guaranty Bancshares	5.32%	5.78%	0.35%

Which has more risk & volatility, ESQ or FGBI?

Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Guaranty Bancshares has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ESQ or FGBI?

54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.5% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.9% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 46.4% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Esquire Financial beats First Guaranty Bancshares on 17 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.