First Bancorp (FNLC) Competitors

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) and First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNLC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, community ranking and dividends.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than First Bancorp. Peoples Bancorp 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
Peoples Bancorp	$443.50M	2.37	$117.21M	$3.15	9.35
First Bancorp	$83.53M	3.19	$27.05M	$2.51	9.47

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PEBO or FNLC?

60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.4% of First Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of First Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Bancorp has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PEBO or FNLC more profitable?

Peoples Bancorp has a net margin of 18.90% compared to First Bancorp's net margin of 16.37%. Peoples Bancorp's return on equity of 11.07% beat First Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp	18.90%	11.07%	1.31%
First Bancorp	16.37%	10.90%	0.88%

Does the media prefer PEBO or FNLC?

In the previous week, Peoples Bancorp had 2 more articles in the media than First Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Peoples Bancorp and 0 mentions for First Bancorp. Peoples Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat First Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Peoples Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Peoples Bancorp	Positive
First Bancorp	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp received 84 more outperform votes than First Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.30% of users gave First Bancorp an outperform vote while only 56.03% of users gave Peoples Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Peoples Bancorp	Outperform Votes 274 56.03%	Underperform Votes 215 43.97%
First Bancorp	Outperform Votes 190 62.30%	Underperform Votes 115 37.70%

Is PEBO or FNLC a better dividend stock?

Peoples Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. First Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Peoples Bancorp pays out 52.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Bancorp pays out 57.4% 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. Peoples Bancorp has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and First Bancorp has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $36.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.20%. Given Peoples Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Peoples Bancorp is more favorable than First Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
First Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats First Bancorp on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.