Finward Bancorp (FNWD) Competitors

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

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, SPFI or FNWD?

South Plains Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Finward Bancorp. Finward Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than South Plains Financial, 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
South Plains Financial	$193.07M	2.84	$49.72M	$3.00	11.25
Finward Bancorp	$71.09M	1.87	$12.13M	$2.83	10.86

Does the media favor SPFI or FNWD?

In the previous week, South Plains Financial had 3 more articles in the media than Finward Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for South Plains Financial and 4 mentions for Finward Bancorp. Finward Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat South Plains Financial's score of 0.50 indicating that Finward Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
South Plains Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Finward Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer SPFI or FNWD?

South Plains Financial currently has a consensus price target of $41.50, indicating a potential upside of 23.00%. Finward Bancorp has a consensus price target of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.91%. Given South Plains Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe South Plains Financial is more favorable than Finward Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
South Plains Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Finward Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more risk & volatility, SPFI or FNWD?

South Plains Financial has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Finward Bancorp has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in SPFI or FNWD?

55.0% of South Plains Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.6% of Finward Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.4% of South Plains Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of Finward Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SPFI or FNWD?

South Plains Financial received 49 more outperform votes than Finward Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 56.82% of users gave South Plains Financial an outperform vote while only 50.00% of users gave Finward Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
South Plains Financial	Outperform Votes 50 56.82%	Underperform Votes 38 43.18%
Finward Bancorp	Outperform Votes 1 50.00%	Underperform Votes 1 50.00%

Is SPFI or FNWD a better dividend stock?

South Plains Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Finward Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. South Plains Financial pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Finward Bancorp pays out 17.0% 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.

Is SPFI or FNWD more profitable?

South Plains Financial has a net margin of 17.20% compared to Finward Bancorp's net margin of 10.85%. South Plains Financial's return on equity of 11.75% beat Finward Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
South Plains Financial	17.20%	11.75%	1.17%
Finward Bancorp	10.85%	7.91%	0.58%

Summary

South Plains Financial beats Finward Bancorp on 18 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.