BancFirst (BANF) Competitors

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in EWBC or BANF?

East West Bancorp received 345 more outperform votes than BancFirst when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.72% of users gave East West Bancorp an outperform vote while only 52.63% of users gave BancFirst an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
East West Bancorp	Outperform Votes 565 64.72%	Underperform Votes 308 35.28%
BancFirst	Outperform Votes 220 52.63%	Underperform Votes 198 47.37%

Does the media prefer EWBC or BANF?

In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 10 more articles in the media than BancFirst. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for East West Bancorp and 14 mentions for BancFirst. East West Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat BancFirst's score of 1.18 indicating that East West Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
East West Bancorp	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
BancFirst	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer EWBC or BANF?

East West Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $105.46, suggesting a potential upside of 21.40%. BancFirst has a consensus target price of $113.33, suggesting a potential downside of 4.79%. Given East West Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than BancFirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
BancFirst	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67

Do institutionals and insiders believe in EWBC or BANF?

89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.7% of BancFirst shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.4% of BancFirst shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, EWBC or BANF?

East West Bancorp has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BancFirst has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is EWBC or BANF a better dividend stock?

East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. East West Bancorp pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BancFirst pays out 27.8% 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. BancFirst has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Is EWBC or BANF more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 25.73% compared to BancFirst's net margin of 23.52%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.71% beat BancFirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
East West Bancorp	25.73%	15.71%	1.58%
BancFirst	23.52%	14.21%	1.68%

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, EWBC or BANF?

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than BancFirst. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BancFirst, 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
East West Bancorp	$2.62B	4.59	$1.17B	$8.38	10.37
BancFirst	$645.29M	6.13	$216.35M	$6.61	18.01

Summary

East West Bancorp beats BancFirst on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.