Finward Bancorp (FNWD) Competitors

First Business Financial Services (NASDAQ:FBIZ) and Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and media sentiment.

Is FBIZ or FNWD more profitable?

First Business Financial Services has a net margin of 16.86% compared to Finward Bancorp's net margin of 10.85%. First Business Financial Services' return on equity of 14.33% beat Finward Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Business Financial Services	16.86%	14.33%	1.16%
Finward Bancorp	10.85%	7.91%	0.58%

Do analysts rate FBIZ or FNWD?

First Business Financial Services presently has a consensus price target of $58.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.32%. Finward Bancorp has a consensus price target of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.48%. Given Finward Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Finward Bancorp is more favorable than First Business Financial Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Business Financial Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Finward Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is FBIZ or FNWD a better dividend stock?

First Business Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Finward Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. First Business Financial Services pays out 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Finward Bancorp pays out 17.0% 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. First Business Financial Services has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. First Business Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, FBIZ or FNWD?

First Business Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than Finward Bancorp. Finward Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Business Financial Services, 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 Business Financial Services	$262.38M	1.64	$44.24M	$5.22	9.93
Finward Bancorp	$111.82M	1.03	$12.13M	$2.83	9.49

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FBIZ or FNWD?

First Business Financial Services received 257 more outperform votes than Finward Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 100.00% of users gave Finward Bancorp an outperform vote while only 60.14% of users gave First Business Financial Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Business Financial Services	Outperform Votes 258 60.14%	Underperform Votes 171 39.86%
Finward Bancorp	Outperform Votes 1 100.00%	Underperform Votes No Votes

Does the media refer more to FBIZ or FNWD?

In the previous week, Finward Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than First Business Financial Services. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Finward Bancorp and 0 mentions for First Business Financial Services. Finward Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat First Business Financial Services' score of 0.50 indicating that Finward Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
First Business Financial Services	Positive
Finward Bancorp	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FBIZ or FNWD?

60.1% of First Business Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.6% of Finward Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of First Business Financial Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of Finward Bancorp shares are owned 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.

Which has more volatility & risk, FBIZ or FNWD?

First Business Financial Services has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Finward Bancorp has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Business Financial Services beats Finward Bancorp on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.