Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMAO) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, FBIZ or FMAO?

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
First Business Financial Services	$262.38M	1.54	$44.24M	$5.50	8.83
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	$179.19M	1.97	$25.94M	$2.02	12.76

Is FBIZ or FMAO more profitable?

First Business Financial Services has a net margin of 17.59% compared to Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's net margin of 15.15%. First Business Financial Services' return on equity of 14.44% beat Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Business Financial Services	17.59%	14.44%	1.18%
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	15.15%	8.23%	0.82%

Does the media prefer FBIZ or FMAO?

In the previous week, First Business Financial Services had 6 more articles in the media than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for First Business Financial Services and 2 mentions for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat First Business Financial Services' score of 0.78 indicating that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Business Financial Services	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend FBIZ or FMAO?

First Business Financial Services currently has a consensus price target of $57.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.82%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.89%. Given First Business Financial Services' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research 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
First Business Financial Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FBIZ or FMAO?

60.1% of First Business Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.0% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of First Business Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.3% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, FBIZ or FMAO?

First Business Financial Services has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FBIZ or FMAO a better dividend stock?

First Business Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Business Financial Services pays out 21.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays out 43.6% 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. First Business Financial Services has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has increased its dividend for 19 consecutive years. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

First Business Financial Services beats Farmers & Merchants Bancorp on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.