First Foundation (FFWM) Competitors

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) and Enterprise Bancorp (NASDAQ:EBTC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Do analysts prefer FFWM or EBTC?

First Foundation currently has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 51.52%. Given First Foundation's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Foundation is more favorable than Enterprise Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Foundation	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Enterprise Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Is FFWM or EBTC a better dividend stock?

First Foundation pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Enterprise Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. First Foundation pays out -1.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Enterprise Bancorp pays out 33.0% 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.

Is FFWM or EBTC more profitable?

Enterprise Bancorp has a net margin of 15.80% compared to First Foundation's net margin of -32.44%. Enterprise Bancorp's return on equity of 11.28% beat First Foundation's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Foundation	-32.44%	1.11%	0.08%
Enterprise Bancorp	15.80%	11.28%	0.79%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FFWM or EBTC?

First Foundation received 33 more outperform votes than Enterprise Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.89% of users gave Enterprise Bancorp an outperform vote while only 60.22% of users gave First Foundation an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Foundation	Outperform Votes 274 60.22%	Underperform Votes 181 39.78%
Enterprise Bancorp	Outperform Votes 241 67.89%	Underperform Votes 114 32.11%

Does the media favor FFWM or EBTC?

In the previous week, First Foundation had 2 more articles in the media than Enterprise Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for First Foundation and 2 mentions for Enterprise Bancorp. Enterprise Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat First Foundation's score of 0.35 indicating that Enterprise Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Foundation	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Enterprise Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, FFWM or EBTC?

Enterprise Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than First Foundation. First Foundation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Enterprise 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
First Foundation	$623.04M	0.57	-$199.06M	-$3.66	-1.71
Enterprise Bancorp	$218.66M	1.49	$38.06M	$2.91	9.03

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of FFWM or EBTC?

73.1% of First Foundation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.9% of Enterprise Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 8.3% of First Foundation shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.7% of Enterprise Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, FFWM or EBTC?

First Foundation has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enterprise Bancorp has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Enterprise Bancorp beats First Foundation on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.