Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) Competitors

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) and First Business Financial Services (NASDAQ:FBIZ) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Is FMAO or FBIZ more profitable?

First Business Financial Services has a net margin of 17.59% compared to Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's net margin of 16.04%. First Business Financial Services' return on equity of 14.22% beat Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	16.04%	8.66%	0.88%
First Business Financial Services	17.59%	14.22%	1.17%

Which has more risk and volatility, FMAO or FBIZ?

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Business Financial Services has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer FMAO or FBIZ?

First Business Financial Services has a consensus target price of $59.67, suggesting a potential upside of 20.44%. Given First Business Financial Services' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Business Financial Services is more favorable than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
First Business Financial Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is FMAO or FBIZ a better dividend stock?

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. First Business Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays out 40.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Business Financial Services pays out 20.6% 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. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has increased its dividend for 19 consecutive years and First Business Financial Services has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FMAO or FBIZ?

First Business Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp. First Business Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Farmers & Merchants 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
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	$179.19M	1.88	$25.94M	$2.16	11.35
First Business Financial Services	$262.38M	1.57	$44.24M	$5.62	8.81

Does the media favor FMAO or FBIZ?

In the previous week, First Business Financial Services had 2 more articles in the media than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for First Business Financial Services and 2 mentions for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp. First Business Financial Services' average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's score of 0.72 indicating that First Business Financial Services is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Business 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

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FMAO or FBIZ?

24.0% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.1% of First Business Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of First Business Financial Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

First Business Financial Services beats Farmers & Merchants Bancorp on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.