Primis Financial (FRST) Competitors

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

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%

Do analysts prefer FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $38.75, indicating a potential upside of 8.71%. Primis Financial has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.78%. 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)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Primis Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders and institutionals believe in FBMS or FRST?

70.0% of First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Primis Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Primis Financial.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Bancshares	$387.64M	2.87	$75.46M	$2.21	16.13
Primis Financial	$244.23M	1.14	-$7.83M	N/A	N/A

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares received 226 more outperform votes than Primis Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.44% 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 53.44%	Underperform Votes 203 46.56%
Primis Financial	Outperform Votes 7 41.18%	Underperform Votes 10 58.82%

Does the media favor FBMS or FRST?

In the previous week, First Bancshares had 2 more articles in the media than Primis Financial. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for First Bancshares and 2 mentions for Primis Financial. First Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 0.26 beat Primis Financial's score of 0.00 indicating that First Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Which has more volatility & risk, FBMS or FRST?

First Bancshares has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Primis Financial has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 2.8%. Primis Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. First Bancshares pays out 45.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

First Bancshares beats Primis Financial on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.