BFST vs. ABCB, BANR, BUSE, CATY, FMBH, FRME, IBCP, STBA, WSBC, and BY
Should you be buying Business First Bancshares stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Business First Bancshares include Ameris Bancorp (ABCB), Banner (BANR), First Busey (BUSE), Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), First Mid Bancshares (FMBH), First Merchants (FRME), Independent Bank (IBCP), S&T Bancorp (STBA), WesBanco (WSBC), and Byline Bancorp (BY). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Business First Bancshares vs. Its Competitors
Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.
Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Business First Bancshares' net margin of 15.47%. Business First Bancshares' return on equity of 11.21% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.
47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Business First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Business First Bancshares pays out 22.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% 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. Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Business First Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Business First Bancshares. Business First Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameris Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 6 more articles in the media than Business First Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 1 mentions for Business First Bancshares. Business First Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.88 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 1.05 indicating that Business First Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Business First Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $30.75, indicating a potential upside of 26.28%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $72.14, indicating a potential upside of 1.20%. Given Business First Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Business First Bancshares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.
Summary
Ameris Bancorp beats Business First Bancshares on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NASDAQ:BFST) was last updated on 8/15/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff