BancFirst (BANF) Competitors

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

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, BANF or EWBC?

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
BancFirst	$908.71M	4.68	$216.35M	$6.61	19.34
East West Bancorp	$4.53B	3.19	$1.17B	$8.38	12.52

Is BANF or EWBC more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 25.73% compared to BancFirst's net margin of 24.05%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.23% beat BancFirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BancFirst	24.05%	13.90%	1.66%
East West Bancorp	25.73%	15.23%	1.55%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BANF or EWBC?

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

Is BANF or EWBC a better dividend stock?

BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. BancFirst pays out 27.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 28.6% 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. BancFirst has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years and East West Bancorp has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend BANF or EWBC?

BancFirst currently has a consensus price target of $113.33, suggesting a potential downside of 11.36%. East West Bancorp has a consensus price target of $107.85, suggesting a potential upside of 2.78%. Given East West Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than BancFirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BancFirst	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62

Which has more volatility & risk, BANF or EWBC?

BancFirst has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to BANF or EWBC?

In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 16 more articles in the media than BancFirst. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for East West Bancorp and 5 mentions for BancFirst. BancFirst's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat East West Bancorp's score of 0.82 indicating that BancFirst is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BancFirst	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
East West Bancorp	8 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

East West Bancorp beats BancFirst on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.