Contrasting FB Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBLA) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST)

FB Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBLA) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of FB Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for FB Bancorp and Southern First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FB Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
Southern First Bancshares	0	2	1	0	2.33

Southern First Bancshares has a consensus price target of $51.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.12%. Given Southern First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than FB Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares FB Bancorp and Southern First Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FB Bancorp	-5.40%	-1.62%	-0.37%
Southern First Bancshares	11.83%	7.74%	0.62%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares FB Bancorp and Southern First Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FB Bancorp	$85.90 million	2.83	-$6.21 million	$0.09	136.00
Southern First Bancshares	$111.46 million	3.28	$15.53 million	$3.23	13.84

Southern First Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than FB Bancorp. Southern First Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FB Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Southern First Bancshares beats FB Bancorp on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FB Bancorp

FB Bancorp Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Fidelity Bank. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides deposit accounts, mortgages, home equity and consumer loans, credit and debit cards, online and mobile banking, investments and other financial services. FB Bancorp Inc. is based in New Orleans.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.