South Plains Financial (SPFI) Competitors

Community Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:CTBI) and South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and profitability.

Which has better earnings and valuation, CTBI or SPFI?

Community Trust Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than South Plains Financial. Community Trust 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
Community Trust Bancorp	$376.01M	2.63	$82.81M	$4.79	11.40
South Plains Financial	$191.62M	3.09	$49.72M	$3.00	12.17

Do analysts prefer CTBI or SPFI?

Community Trust Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $57.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.41%. South Plains Financial has a consensus target price of $41.50, suggesting a potential upside of 13.70%. Given South Plains Financial's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe South Plains Financial is more favorable than Community Trust Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Community Trust Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
South Plains Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is CTBI or SPFI a better dividend stock?

Community Trust Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. South Plains Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Community Trust Bancorp pays out 39.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. South Plains Financial pays out 20.0% 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. Community Trust Bancorp has raised its dividend for 44 consecutive years and South Plains Financial has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Community Trust Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is CTBI or SPFI more profitable?

Community Trust Bancorp has a net margin of 22.49% compared to South Plains Financial's net margin of 17.67%. South Plains Financial's return on equity of 11.73% beat Community Trust Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Community Trust Bancorp	22.49%	11.40%	1.42%
South Plains Financial	17.67%	11.73%	1.19%

Which has more volatility and risk, CTBI or SPFI?

Community Trust Bancorp has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, South Plains Financial has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in CTBI or SPFI?

60.2% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.0% of South Plains Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.6% of South Plains Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer CTBI or SPFI?

In the previous week, South Plains Financial had 2 more articles in the media than Community Trust Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for South Plains Financial and 2 mentions for Community Trust Bancorp. Community Trust Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.72 beat South Plains Financial's score of 0.65 indicating that Community Trust Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Community Trust Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
South Plains Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Community Trust Bancorp and South Plains Financial tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.