Financial Institutions (FISI) Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, BUSE or FISI?

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than Financial Institutions. Financial Institutions 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	$475.63M	4.20	$113.69M	$1.07	20.84
Financial Institutions	$120.71M	4.16	-$24.52M	-$0.75	-33.29

Which has more risk and volatility, BUSE or FISI?

First Busey has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Financial Institutions has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BUSE or FISI more profitable?

First Busey has a net margin of 17.14% compared to Financial Institutions' net margin of -6.69%. Financial Institutions' return on equity of 11.12% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	17.14%	8.94%	1.00%
Financial Institutions	-6.69%	11.12%	0.81%

Do analysts prefer BUSE or FISI?

First Busey currently has a consensus price target of $27.80, indicating a potential upside of 24.66%. Financial Institutions has a consensus price target of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 32.16%. Given Financial Institutions' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Financial Institutions is more favorable than First Busey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Financial Institutions	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media prefer BUSE or FISI?

In the previous week, First Busey had 2 more articles in the media than Financial Institutions. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for First Busey and 3 mentions for Financial Institutions. Financial Institutions' average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat First Busey's score of 1.13 indicating that Financial Institutions is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Financial Institutions	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals believe in BUSE or FISI?

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.5% of Financial Institutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Financial Institutions shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BUSE or FISI?

First Busey received 80 more outperform votes than Financial Institutions when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.39% of users gave Financial Institutions an outperform vote while only 54.07% of users gave First Busey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Busey	Outperform Votes 379 54.07%	Underperform Votes 322 45.93%
Financial Institutions	Outperform Votes 299 57.39%	Underperform Votes 222 42.61%

Is BUSE or FISI a better dividend stock?

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Financial Institutions pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. First Busey pays out 93.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Financial Institutions pays out -165.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Financial Institutions has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Financial Institutions is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

First Busey beats Financial Institutions on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.