First Financial (THFF) Competitors

First Financial (NASDAQ:THFF) and Luther Burbank (NASDAQ:LBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership and dividends.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, THFF or LBC?

Luther Burbank has lower revenue, but higher earnings than First Financial. First Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Luther Burbank, 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 Financial	$271.10M	2.02	$60.67M	$4.69	9.87
Luther Burbank	$123.27M	3.79	$80.20M	$0.71	12.89

Do analysts recommend THFF or LBC?

First Financial presently has a consensus price target of $45.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.81%. Luther Burbank has a consensus price target of $12.50, indicating a potential upside of 36.61%. Given Luther Burbank's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Luther Burbank is more favorable than First Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Luther Burbank	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Is THFF or LBC a better dividend stock?

First Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Luther Burbank pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. First Financial pays out 38.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Luther Burbank pays out 67.6% 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 THFF or LBC more profitable?

First Financial has a net margin of 18.22% compared to Luther Burbank's net margin of 10.43%. First Financial's return on equity of 10.07% beat Luther Burbank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial	18.22%	10.07%	1.06%
Luther Burbank	10.43%	5.19%	0.44%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer THFF or LBC?

First Financial received 210 more outperform votes than Luther Burbank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.55% of users gave First Financial an outperform vote while only 56.47% of users gave Luther Burbank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Financial	Outperform Votes 341 61.55%	Underperform Votes 213 38.45%
Luther Burbank	Outperform Votes 131 56.47%	Underperform Votes 101 43.53%

Which has more risk & volatility, THFF or LBC?

First Financial has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Luther Burbank has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in THFF or LBC?

72.7% of First Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.0% of Luther Burbank shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of First Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of Luther Burbank shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer THFF or LBC?

In the previous week, First Financial had 10 more articles in the media than Luther Burbank. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for First Financial and 1 mentions for Luther Burbank. First Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat Luther Burbank's score of 0.00 indicating that First Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Luther Burbank	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

First Financial beats Luther Burbank on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.