Carter Bankshares (CARE) Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and Carter Bankshares (NASDAQ:CARE) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, media sentiment, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Do analysts rate BUSE or CARE?

First Busey currently has a consensus target price of $27.17, suggesting a potential upside of 21.77%. Carter Bankshares has a consensus target price of $21.50, suggesting a potential upside of 25.00%. Given Carter Bankshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Carter Bankshares is more favorable than First Busey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Carter Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is BUSE or CARE more profitable?

Carter Bankshares has a net margin of 12.58% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. First Busey's return on equity of 9.76% beat Carter Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	9.48%	9.76%	1.11%
Carter Bankshares	12.58%	7.76%	0.65%

Does the media favor BUSE or CARE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 9 more articles in the media than Carter Bankshares. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for First Busey and 4 mentions for Carter Bankshares. Carter Bankshares' average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat First Busey's score of 0.36 indicating that Carter Bankshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Carter Bankshares	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, BUSE or CARE?

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than Carter Bankshares. Carter Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, 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 Busey	$663.36M	3.01	$113.69M	$1.12	19.92
Carter Bankshares	$243.10M	1.64	$24.27M	$1.36	12.65

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of BUSE or CARE?

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.5% of Carter Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Carter Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, BUSE or CARE?

First Busey has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carter Bankshares has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Busey beats Carter Bankshares on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.