Stellarone (STEL) Competitors

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) and Stellarone (NASDAQ:STEL) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and media sentiment.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HOMB or STEL?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) received 427 more outperform votes than Stellarone when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.93% of users gave Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) an outperform vote while only 55.80% of users gave Stellarone an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	Outperform Votes 504 59.93%	Underperform Votes 337 40.07%
Stellarone	Outperform Votes 77 55.80%	Underperform Votes 61 44.20%

Does the media prefer HOMB or STEL?

In the previous week, Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) had 6 more articles in the media than Stellarone. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) and 2 mentions for Stellarone. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Stellarone's score of 0.00 indicating that Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Stellarone	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate HOMB or STEL?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) presently has a consensus price target of $32.40, indicating a potential upside of 15.18%. Stellarone has a consensus price target of $29.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.13%. Given Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is more favorable than Stellarone.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Stellarone	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Is HOMB or STEL a better dividend stock?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Stellarone pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stellarone pays out 25.5% 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. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Stellarone has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is HOMB or STEL more profitable?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a net margin of 27.39% compared to Stellarone's net margin of 18.80%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s return on equity of 10.31% beat Stellarone's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	27.39%	10.31%	1.77%
Stellarone	18.80%	7.43%	1.09%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HOMB or STEL?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has higher revenue and earnings than Stellarone. Stellarone is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR), 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
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	$1.01B	5.47	$402.24M	$2.10	13.40
Stellarone	$625.45M	2.27	$117.61M	$2.20	12.08

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of HOMB or STEL?

67.3% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of Stellarone shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.9% of Stellarone shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, HOMB or STEL?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stellarone has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) beats Stellarone on 17 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.