First Western Financial (MYFW) Competitors

First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) and Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) are both small-cap banking companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and risk.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MYFW or AMTB?

First Western Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Amerant Bancorp. Amerant Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Western 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
First Western Financial	$92.33M	2.40	$8.47M	$1.19	19.15
Amerant Bancorp	$605.50M	1.47	-$15.75M	-$0.20	-106.35

Is MYFW or AMTB more profitable?

First Western Financial has a net margin of 6.50% compared to Amerant Bancorp's net margin of 0.60%. Amerant Bancorp's return on equity of 7.12% beat First Western Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Western Financial	6.50%	4.55%	0.39%
Amerant Bancorp	0.60%	7.12%	0.63%

Do analysts prefer MYFW or AMTB?

First Western Financial presently has a consensus price target of $24.33, indicating a potential upside of 6.77%. Given First Western Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe First Western Financial is more favorable than Amerant Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Western Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Amerant Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more volatility & risk, MYFW or AMTB?

First Western Financial has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to MYFW or AMTB?

In the previous week, First Western Financial had 3 more articles in the media than Amerant Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for First Western Financial and 0 mentions for Amerant Bancorp. First Western Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat Amerant Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that First Western Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
First Western Financial	Neutral
Amerant Bancorp	Neutral

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MYFW or AMTB?

60.3% of First Western Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 15.5% of First Western Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Amerant 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.

Summary

First Western Financial beats Amerant Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.