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Southern First Bancshares (SFST) Competitors

Southern First Bancshares logo
$45.18 -0.36 (-0.79%)
Closing price 04:00 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$45.20 +0.02 (+0.03%)
As of 04:22 PM Eastern
Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more.

SFST vs. ABCB, CNOB, FMBH, HOPE, IBCP, MBWM, OCFC, STBA, WSBC, and BY

Should you be buying Southern First Bancshares stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southern First Bancshares include Ameris Bancorp (ABCB), ConnectOne Bancorp (CNOB), First Mid Bancshares (FMBH), Hope Bancorp (HOPE), Independent Bank (IBCP), Mercantile Bank (MBWM), OceanFirst Financial (OCFC), S&T Bancorp (STBA), WesBanco (WSBC), and Byline Bancorp (BY). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.

Southern First Bancshares vs. Its Competitors

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $72.14, indicating a potential downside of 4.84%. Southern First Bancshares has a consensus price target of $51.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.88%. Given Southern First Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Ameris Bancorp
0 Sell rating(s)
1 Hold rating(s)
6 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.86
Southern First Bancshares
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Hold rating(s)
1 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
3.00

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 8 more articles in the media than Southern First Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 0 mentions for Southern First Bancshares. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Southern First Bancshares' score of 0.00 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp Positive
Southern First Bancshares Neutral

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Southern First Bancshares' net margin of 10.09%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Southern First Bancshares' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp21.46% 9.57% 1.32%
Southern First Bancshares 10.09%6.52%0.52%

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Southern First Bancshares. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern First Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Ameris Bancorp$1.13B4.62$358.68M$5.6813.35
Southern First Bancshares$213.35M1.73$15.53M$2.7016.73

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Southern First Bancshares on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SFST and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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SFST vs. The Competition

MetricSouthern First BancsharesBANKS IndustryFinance SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$372.55M$2.04B$12.74B$10.40B
Dividend YieldN/A2.56%5.40%4.60%
P/E Ratio16.7311.96243.5726.75
Price / Sales1.732.4030.93124.23
Price / Cash17.7813.1422.4261.55
Price / Book1.121.252.336.40
Net Income$15.53M$156.23M$1.01B$271.62M
7 Day Performance0.98%0.50%0.36%2.85%
1 Month Performance8.32%3.93%3.85%9.64%
1 Year Performance31.34%15.54%540.60%31.62%

Southern First Bancshares Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
SFST
Southern First Bancshares
3.0048 of 5 stars
$45.18
-0.8%
$51.00
+12.9%
+35.8%$372.55M$213.35M16.73290High Trading Volume
ABCB
Ameris Bancorp
3.5973 of 5 stars
$74.02
-0.5%
$72.14
-2.5%
+22.1%$5.08B$1.13B14.212,850Positive News
Dividend Announcement
CNOB
ConnectOne Bancorp
4.8849 of 5 stars
$25.06
-0.2%
$30.25
+20.7%
+2.9%$1.26B$534.62M28.80520Positive News
FMBH
First Mid Bancshares
3.5713 of 5 stars
$39.38
-0.1%
$43.33
+10.0%
+1.7%$945.50M$453.67M11.191,198News Coverage
Positive News
Short Interest ↓
HOPE
Hope Bancorp
4.9118 of 5 stars
$10.88
-0.5%
$13.25
+21.8%
-11.7%$1.40B$1.00B31.091,244Positive News
IBCP
Independent Bank
3.8845 of 5 stars
$31.59
-0.5%
$36.00
+14.0%
-6.8%$657.32M$323.14M10.29920Positive News
MBWM
Mercantile Bank
4.05 of 5 stars
$47.45
-0.6%
$55.25
+16.4%
+6.7%$775.40M$234.68M9.41670
OCFC
OceanFirst Financial
4.2977 of 5 stars
$17.89
-1.3%
$20.67
+15.5%
+2.0%$1.04B$692.36M12.69960Positive News
STBA
S&T Bancorp
3.3907 of 5 stars
$38.56
-1.3%
$42.00
+8.9%
-7.4%$1.50B$564.96M11.311,206Positive News
WSBC
WesBanco
4.9942 of 5 stars
$31.35
-0.8%
$38.83
+23.9%
+5.1%$3.03B$953.62M18.892,195Trending News
Insider Trade
BY
Byline Bancorp
4.3119 of 5 stars
$28.72
-1.1%
$33.25
+15.8%
+8.7%$1.33B$624.78M10.721,027Positive News
Short Interest ↓

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This page (NASDAQ:SFST) was last updated on 9/19/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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