First Community (FCCO) Competitors

First Community (NASDAQ:FCCO) and Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in FCCO or BFST?

61.3% of First Community shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of First Community shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, FCCO or BFST?

Business First Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than First Community. Business First Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Community, 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 Community	$103.43M	1.87	$13.95M	$1.98	12.74
Business First Bancshares	$458.96M	1.66	$65.11M	$2.43	10.56

Does the media refer more to FCCO or BFST?

In the previous week, First Community had 3 more articles in the media than Business First Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for First Community and 3 mentions for Business First Bancshares. Business First Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat First Community's score of 1.11 indicating that Business First Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Community	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Business First Bancshares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is FCCO or BFST more profitable?

First Community has a net margin of 15.87% compared to Business First Bancshares' net margin of 15.00%. First Community's return on equity of 11.84% beat Business First Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Community	15.87%	11.84%	0.87%
Business First Bancshares	15.00%	11.49%	1.06%

Do analysts recommend FCCO or BFST?

First Community currently has a consensus target price of $29.67, indicating a potential upside of 17.58%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $30.50, indicating a potential upside of 18.86%. Given Business First Bancshares' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Business First Bancshares is more favorable than First Community.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Community	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.33
Business First Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is FCCO or BFST a better dividend stock?

First Community pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. First Community pays out 30.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Business First Bancshares pays out 23.0% 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. First Community has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Business First Bancshares has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. First Community is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, FCCO or BFST?

First Community has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Community beats Business First Bancshares on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.