Contrasting Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) and SR Bancorp (NASDAQ:SRBK)

SR Bancorp (NASDAQ:SRBK) and Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for SR Bancorp and Business First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SR Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00
Business First Bancshares	0	0	4	0	3.00

SR Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.65%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.38%. Given Business First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Business First Bancshares is more favorable than SR Bancorp.

Dividends

SR Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. SR Bancorp pays out 55.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Business First Bancshares pays out 21.5% 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. Business First Bancshares has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Business First Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SR Bancorp	5.82%	1.27%	0.22%
Business First Bancshares	17.01%	11.41%	1.13%

Volatility & Risk

SR Bancorp has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

24.7% of SR Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.8% of SR Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SR Bancorp and Business First Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SR Bancorp	$48.54 million	2.91	$5.14 million	$0.36	47.11
Business First Bancshares	$516.55 million	1.64	$87.86 million	$2.79	10.25

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

Summary

Business First Bancshares beats SR Bancorp on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SR Bancorp

SR Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Somerset Regal Bank that provides customary retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and local municipalities in the communities of Somerset, Middlesex, Hunterdon, and Essex counties in New Jersey. It offers deposit instruments, including noninterest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides loans comprising one- to four family-residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, unsecured personal loans, and rehabilitation loans; and bill payment services. In addition, it is involved in the investment activities. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

About Business First Bancshares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for b1BANK that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products and services, including checking, demand, money market, time, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposits, remote deposit capture, and direct deposit services. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans, such as working capital, term, equipment financing, asset acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, and other loan products, as well as commercial lines of credit, accounts receivable factoring, agricultural financing, and letters of credit; construction and development loans; commercial real estate loans; residential real estate loans comprising first and second lien 1-4 family mortgage loans, and home equity lines of credit; and consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment, and term loans. In addition, it offers wealth management products, including mutual funds, annuities, individual retirement accounts, and other financial products, as well as other fiduciary and private banking products and services. Further, the company provides a range of other financial services comprising debit and credit cards, treasury and cash management, merchant, automated clearing house, lock-box, receivables factoring, correspondent banking, and other treasury services, as well as employee and payroll benefits solutions; and drive-through banking facilities, automated teller machines, night depository, personalized checks, electronic funds transfer, domestic and foreign wire transfer, traveler's checks, vault, loan and deposit sweep accounts, online and mobile banking, e-statements, and bank-by-mail services. Business First Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.