Deluxe (DLX) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) are related companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Which has more risk & volatility, FFBC or DLX?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Deluxe has a beta of 1.51, suggesting that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FFBC or DLX a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Deluxe pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Deluxe pays out 93.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First Financial Bancorp. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, FFBC or DLX?

First Financial Bancorp. has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Deluxe. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Deluxe, 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 Bancorp.	$1.62B	1.49	$228.83M	$2.50	10.07
Deluxe	$2.11B	0.39	$52.80M	$1.29	14.15

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FFBC or DLX?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Deluxe shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Deluxe shares are owned by company 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.

Is FFBC or DLX more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 19.41% compared to Deluxe's net margin of 2.75%. Deluxe's return on equity of 21.12% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	19.41%	10.57%	1.42%
Deluxe	2.75%	21.12%	4.99%

Do analysts recommend FFBC or DLX?

First Financial Bancorp. currently has a consensus target price of $29.83, indicating a potential upside of 18.48%. Deluxe has a consensus target price of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.97%. Given Deluxe's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Deluxe is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Deluxe	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to FFBC or DLX?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 1 more articles in the media than Deluxe. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 4 mentions for Deluxe. Deluxe's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 0.87 indicating that Deluxe is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Deluxe	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Deluxe beats First Financial Bancorp. on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.