First Bancorp (FBNC) Competitors

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) and First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, PB or FBNC?

Prosperity Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than First Bancorp. Prosperity Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Bancorp, 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
Prosperity Bancshares	$1.17B	5.66	$479.39M	$5.25	13.29
First Bancorp	$357.72M	4.75	$76.21M	$2.11	19.43

Which has more risk & volatility, PB or FBNC?

Prosperity Bancshares has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Bancorp has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PB or FBNC?

80.7% of Prosperity Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.4% of First Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.2% of Prosperity Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of First Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is PB or FBNC more profitable?

Prosperity Bancshares has a net margin of 26.79% compared to First Bancorp's net margin of 14.19%. First Bancorp's return on equity of 8.04% beat Prosperity Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prosperity Bancshares	26.79%	6.64%	1.22%
First Bancorp	14.19%	8.04%	0.95%

Is PB or FBNC a better dividend stock?

Prosperity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. First Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Prosperity Bancshares pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Bancorp pays out 41.7% 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. Prosperity Bancshares has increased its dividend for 27 consecutive years. Prosperity Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer PB or FBNC?

Prosperity Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $83.80, suggesting a potential upside of 20.07%. First Bancorp has a consensus price target of $49.33, suggesting a potential upside of 20.33%. Given First Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Bancorp is more favorable than Prosperity Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prosperity Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
First Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to PB or FBNC?

In the previous week, Prosperity Bancshares had 14 more articles in the media than First Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Prosperity Bancshares and 4 mentions for First Bancorp. First Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Prosperity Bancshares' score of 0.68 indicating that First Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prosperity Bancshares	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Bancorp	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PB or FBNC?

First Bancorp received 83 more outperform votes than Prosperity Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.60% of users gave First Bancorp an outperform vote while only 46.92% of users gave Prosperity Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prosperity Bancshares	Outperform Votes 327 46.92%	Underperform Votes 370 53.08%
First Bancorp	Outperform Votes 410 62.60%	Underperform Votes 245 37.40%

Summary

Prosperity Bancshares beats First Bancorp on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.