TowneBank (TOWN) Competitors

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) and TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon received 306 more outperform votes than TowneBank when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 54.74% of users gave TowneBank an outperform vote while only 54.51% of users gave First Horizon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Horizon	Outperform Votes 514 54.51%	Underperform Votes 429 45.49%
TowneBank	Outperform Votes 208 54.74%	Underperform Votes 172 45.26%

Is FHN or TOWN more profitable?

TowneBank has a net margin of 15.77% compared to First Horizon's net margin of 15.38%. First Horizon's return on equity of 10.10% beat TowneBank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Horizon	15.38%	10.10%	1.07%
TowneBank	15.77%	7.77%	0.96%

Is FHN or TOWN a better dividend stock?

First Horizon pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. TowneBank pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Horizon pays out 41.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TowneBank pays out 45.8% 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. TowneBank has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. TowneBank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon presently has a consensus price target of $22.53, suggesting a potential upside of 13.79%. TowneBank has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.30%. Given TowneBank's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TowneBank is more favorable than First Horizon.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Horizon	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
TowneBank	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media favor FHN or TOWN?

In the previous week, First Horizon had 5 more articles in the media than TowneBank. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for First Horizon and 3 mentions for TowneBank. First Horizon's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat TowneBank's score of 1.12 indicating that First Horizon is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Horizon	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
TowneBank	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation & earnings, FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon has higher revenue and earnings than TowneBank. First Horizon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TowneBank, 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 Horizon	$3.09B	3.25	$775M	$1.44	13.75
TowneBank	$717.45M	3.56	$161.76M	$2.36	14.45

Do institutionals & insiders believe in FHN or TOWN?

80.3% of First Horizon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.0% of TowneBank shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of First Horizon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of TowneBank shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TowneBank has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Horizon beats TowneBank on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.