Reviewing C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) & Regions Financial (NYSE:RF)

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) and C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Regions Financial and C&F Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Regions Financial	23.13%	12.70%	1.40%
C&F Financial	14.84%	11.03%	1.03%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Regions Financial and C&F Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Regions Financial	3	8	7	0	2.22
C&F Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Regions Financial currently has a consensus price target of $30.73, suggesting a potential upside of 2.15%. Given Regions Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Regions Financial is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.4% of Regions Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of C&F Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Regions Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are owned by company 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.

Dividends

Regions Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Regions Financial pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. C&F Financial pays out 22.1% 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. Regions Financial has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and C&F Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Regions Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Regions Financial and C&F Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Regions Financial	$9.61 billion	2.67	$2.16 billion	$2.40	12.54
C&F Financial	$186.13 million	1.50	$26.83 million	$8.70	9.91

Regions Financial has higher revenue and earnings than C&F Financial. C&F Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Regions Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Regions Financial has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, C&F Financial has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Regions Financial beats C&F Financial on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. It also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

About C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.