Sandy Spring Bancorp (SASR) Competitors

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) and Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, dividends and institutional ownership.

Which has better valuation and earnings, SASR or HOMB?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has higher revenue and earnings than Sandy Spring Bancorp. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sandy Spring Bancorp, 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
Sandy Spring Bancorp	$751.59M	1.90	$19.93M	$0.45	70.27
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	$1.47B	3.99	$402.24M	$2.02	14.58

Which has more risk & volatility, SASR or HOMB?

Sandy Spring Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer SASR or HOMB?

Sandy Spring Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $28.25, indicating a potential downside of 10.66%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.64%. Given Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is more favorable than Sandy Spring Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sandy Spring Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SASR or HOMB?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) received 213 more outperform votes than Sandy Spring Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.24% of users gave Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) an outperform vote while only 55.56% of users gave Sandy Spring Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sandy Spring Bancorp	Outperform Votes 290 55.56%	Underperform Votes 232 44.44%
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	Outperform Votes 503 60.24%	Underperform Votes 332 39.76%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of SASR or HOMB?

66.9% of Sandy Spring Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.3% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Sandy Spring Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are held by 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 prefer SASR or HOMB?

In the previous week, Sandy Spring Bancorp had 2 more articles in the media than Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR). MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Sandy Spring Bancorp and 5 mentions for Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR). Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Sandy Spring Bancorp's score of 1.20 indicating that Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sandy Spring Bancorp	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is SASR or HOMB more profitable?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a net margin of 27.39% compared to Sandy Spring Bancorp's net margin of 2.65%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s return on equity of 10.31% beat Sandy Spring Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sandy Spring Bancorp	2.65%	5.31%	0.61%
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	27.39%	10.31%	1.77%

Is SASR or HOMB a better dividend stock?

Sandy Spring Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Sandy Spring Bancorp pays out 302.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays out 38.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Summary

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) beats Sandy Spring Bancorp on 18 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.