First Financial (THFF) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HTBK or THFF?

First Financial received 41 more outperform votes than Heritage Commerce when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.55% of users gave First Financial an outperform vote while only 58.59% of users gave Heritage Commerce an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Heritage Commerce	Outperform Votes 300 58.59%	Underperform Votes 212 41.41%
First Financial	Outperform Votes 341 61.55%	Underperform Votes 213 38.45%

Does the media refer more to HTBK or THFF?

In the previous week, Heritage Commerce had 5 more articles in the media than First Financial. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Heritage Commerce and 1 mentions for First Financial. First Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.93 beat Heritage Commerce's score of 0.70 indicating that First Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Heritage Commerce	Positive
First Financial	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, HTBK or THFF?

Heritage Commerce has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Financial. First Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heritage Commerce, 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
Heritage Commerce	$243.30M	2.68	$64.44M	$0.71	15.00
First Financial	$271.10M	2.14	$60.67M	$3.69	13.31

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in HTBK or THFF?

75.6% of Heritage Commerce shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.7% of First Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Heritage Commerce shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of First Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer HTBK or THFF?

Heritage Commerce presently has a consensus target price of $11.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.98%. First Financial has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential downside of 8.41%. Given Heritage Commerce's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Heritage Commerce is more favorable than First Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Commerce	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
First Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is HTBK or THFF a better dividend stock?

Heritage Commerce pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. First Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Heritage Commerce pays out 73.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial pays out 48.8% 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.

Is HTBK or THFF more profitable?

Heritage Commerce has a net margin of 17.61% compared to First Financial's net margin of 14.86%. First Financial's return on equity of 8.10% beat Heritage Commerce's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Commerce	17.61%	6.37%	0.81%
First Financial	14.86%	8.10%	0.87%

Which has more risk and volatility, HTBK or THFF?

Heritage Commerce has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Heritage Commerce beats First Financial on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.