Primis Financial (FRST) Competitors

First Bancshares (NASDAQ:FBMS) and Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, earnings, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Do analysts rate FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $37.17, suggesting a potential upside of 7.60%. Primis Financial has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.55%. Given Primis Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Primis Financial is more favorable than First Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Primis Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Primis Financial. Primis Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Bancshares, 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 Bancshares	$267.28M	4.03	$75.46M	$2.21	15.63
Primis Financial	$143.23M	2.06	-$7.83M	$1.08	11.03

Does the media prefer FBMS or FRST?

In the previous week, First Bancshares and First Bancshares both had 5 articles in the media. Primis Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat First Bancshares' score of 0.87 indicating that Primis Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Bancshares	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Primis Financial	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares received 226 more outperform votes than Primis Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.94% of users gave First Bancshares an outperform vote while only 41.18% of users gave Primis Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Bancshares	Outperform Votes 233 53.94%	Underperform Votes 199 46.06%
Primis Financial	Outperform Votes 7 41.18%	Underperform Votes 10 58.82%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of FBMS or FRST?

69.9% of First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Primis Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of First Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Primis Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is FBMS or FRST a better dividend stock?

First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Primis Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Bancshares pays out 45.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Primis Financial pays out 37.0% 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. Primis Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility and risk, FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Primis Financial has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FBMS or FRST more profitable?

First Bancshares has a net margin of 17.25% compared to Primis Financial's net margin of 6.00%. First Bancshares' return on equity of 8.19% beat Primis Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Bancshares	17.25%	8.19%	1.00%
Primis Financial	6.00%	3.28%	0.33%

Summary

First Bancshares beats Primis Financial on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.