Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC) Competitors

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment and earnings.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in EFSC or BUSE?

72.2% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer EFSC or BUSE?

Enterprise Financial Services currently has a consensus target price of $64.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.19%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.33, suggesting a potential upside of 12.16%. Given First Busey's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than Enterprise Financial Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enterprise Financial Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is EFSC or BUSE more profitable?

Enterprise Financial Services has a net margin of 21.28% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. Enterprise Financial Services' return on equity of 11.19% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enterprise Financial Services	21.28%	11.19%	1.29%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Which has more volatility & risk, EFSC or BUSE?

Enterprise Financial Services has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is EFSC or BUSE a better dividend stock?

Enterprise Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Enterprise Financial Services pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 89.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Enterprise Financial Services has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years and First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer EFSC or BUSE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 6 more articles in the media than Enterprise Financial Services. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for First Busey and 3 mentions for Enterprise Financial Services. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Enterprise Financial Services' score of 0.67 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Enterprise Financial Services	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Busey	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, EFSC or BUSE?

Enterprise Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. Enterprise Financial Services 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
Enterprise Financial Services	$920.75M	2.39	$185.27M	$5.27	11.28
First Busey	$663.36M	3.27	$113.69M	$1.12	21.76

Summary

Enterprise Financial Services beats First Busey on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.