Stellarone (STEL) Competitors

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

Is STEL or HOMB a better dividend stock?

Stellarone pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Stellarone pays out 25.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays out 38.6% 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. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

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

54.2% of Stellarone shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.3% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.9% of Stellarone shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are owned 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.

Does the media refer more to STEL or HOMB?

In the previous week, Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) had 5 more articles in the media than Stellarone. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) and 0 mentions for Stellarone. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Stellarone's score of 0.00 indicating that Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Stellarone	Neutral
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, STEL or HOMB?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has higher revenue and earnings than Stellarone. Stellarone is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR), 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
Stellarone	$625.45M	2.45	$117.61M	$2.20	13.02
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	$1.47B	3.99	$402.24M	$2.02	14.58

Do analysts recommend STEL or HOMB?

Stellarone currently has a consensus price target of $29.67, indicating a potential upside of 3.58%. 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 possible upside, analysts clearly believe Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is more favorable than Stellarone.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stellarone	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Which has more risk and volatility, STEL or HOMB?

Stellarone has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is STEL or HOMB more profitable?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a net margin of 27.39% compared to Stellarone's net margin of 18.80%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s return on equity of 10.31% beat Stellarone's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stellarone	18.80%	7.43%	1.09%
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	27.39%	10.31%	1.77%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in STEL or HOMB?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) received 426 more outperform votes than Stellarone when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.24% of users gave Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) an outperform vote while only 56.20% of users gave Stellarone an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Stellarone	Outperform Votes 77 56.20%	Underperform Votes 60 43.80%
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	Outperform Votes 503 60.24%	Underperform Votes 332 39.76%

Summary

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