First Bancshares (FBMS) Competitors

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

Is FBMS or AMTB a better dividend stock?

First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Amerant Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. First Bancshares pays out 39.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amerant Bancorp pays out 52.9% 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. First Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better earnings & valuation, FBMS or AMTB?

First Bancshares has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Amerant Bancorp. First Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amerant 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 Bancshares	$387.64M	1.99	$75.46M	$2.52	9.83
Amerant Bancorp	$636.08M	1.19	$32.49M	$0.68	33.25

Do analysts prefer FBMS or AMTB?

First Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.19%. Amerant Bancorp has a consensus price target of $25.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.89%. Given First Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe First Bancshares is more favorable than Amerant Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Amerant Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FBMS or AMTB?

70.0% of First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.5% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, FBMS or AMTB?

First Bancshares has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FBMS or AMTB?

First Bancshares received 175 more outperform votes than Amerant Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.61% of users gave First Bancshares an outperform vote while only 46.67% of users gave Amerant Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Bancshares	Outperform Votes 231 57.61%	Underperform Votes 170 42.39%
Amerant Bancorp	Outperform Votes 56 46.67%	Underperform Votes 64 53.33%

Is FBMS or AMTB more profitable?

First Bancshares has a net margin of 20.00% compared to Amerant Bancorp's net margin of 5.11%. First Bancshares' return on equity of 9.85% beat Amerant Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Bancshares	20.00%	9.85%	1.14%
Amerant Bancorp	5.11%	7.68%	0.58%

Does the media refer more to FBMS or AMTB?

In the previous week, First Bancshares and First Bancshares both had 7 articles in the media. First Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Amerant Bancorp's score of -0.63 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	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Amerant Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative

Summary

First Bancshares beats Amerant Bancorp on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.