C&F Financial (CFFI) Competitors

C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) and Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in CFFI or MBWM?

37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of Mercantile Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of C&F Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of Mercantile Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CFFI or MBWM a better dividend stock?

C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Mercantile Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. C&F Financial pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mercantile Bank pays out 30.7% 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. C&F Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Mercantile Bank has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate CFFI or MBWM?

Mercantile Bank has a consensus price target of $52.83, suggesting a potential upside of 7.89%. Given Mercantile Bank's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mercantile Bank is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
C&F Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Mercantile Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media refer more to CFFI or MBWM?

In the previous week, Mercantile Bank had 2 more articles in the media than C&F Financial. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Mercantile Bank and 2 mentions for C&F Financial. C&F Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.62 beat Mercantile Bank's score of 0.51 indicating that C&F Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
C&F Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mercantile Bank	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CFFI or MBWM more profitable?

Mercantile Bank has a net margin of 21.35% compared to C&F Financial's net margin of 12.56%. Mercantile Bank's return on equity of 13.33% beat C&F Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
C&F Financial	12.56%	9.59%	0.85%
Mercantile Bank	21.35%	13.33%	1.31%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, CFFI or MBWM?

Mercantile Bank has higher revenue and earnings than C&F Financial. C&F Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mercantile Bank, 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
C&F Financial	$170.13M	1.24	$19.83M	$6.68	9.76
Mercantile Bank	$361.89M	2.20	$79.59M	$4.82	10.16

Which has more volatility and risk, CFFI or MBWM?

C&F Financial has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercantile Bank has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mercantile Bank beats C&F Financial on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.