Comparing Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) & Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ)

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) and Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Primis Financial and Core Scientific”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Primis Financial	$127.79 million	2.78	$61.44 million	$2.12	6.76
Core Scientific	$319.02 million	25.17	-$288.62 million	($1.14)	-22.16

Primis Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Core Scientific. Core Scientific is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Primis Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Primis Financial has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Core Scientific has a beta of 5.45, indicating that its stock price is 445% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 10.9% of Primis Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Core Scientific shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Primis Financial and Core Scientific, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Primis Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67
Core Scientific	2	3	15	1	2.71

Primis Financial presently has a consensus price target of $17.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.63%. Core Scientific has a consensus price target of $28.14, suggesting a potential upside of 11.40%. Given Primis Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Primis Financial is more favorable than Core Scientific.

Profitability

This table compares Primis Financial and Core Scientific’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Primis Financial	19.71%	4.98%	0.50%
Core Scientific	-342.42%	N/A	-50.92%

Summary

Primis Financial beats Core Scientific on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Primis Financial

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also provides commercial business and real estate, construction, secured asset based, small business administration, mortgage warehouse lending products, as well as financing for medical, dental, and veterinary businesses; residential mortgage, trust mortgage, home equity lines of credit, secured and unsecured personal, and consumer loans, as well as life insurance premium financing and demand loans. It also offers cash management services comprising investment/sweep, zero balance, and controlled disbursement accounts; and wire transfer, employer/payroll processing, night depository, depository transfer, merchant, ACH origination, and remote deposit capture services. In addition, the company provides debit cards, ATM services, notary services, and mobile and online banking. It operates full-service branches in Virginia and Maryland. The company was formerly known as Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Inc. and changed its name to Primis Financial Corp. Primis Financial Corp. was founded in 2004 and is based in McLean, Virginia.

About Core Scientific

Core Scientific, Inc. provides digital asset mining services in North America. It operates through two segments, Mining and Hosting. The company offers blockchain infrastructure, software solutions, and services; and operates data center mining facilities. It also mines digital assets for its own account; and provides hosting services for other large bitcoin miners, which include deployment, monitoring, trouble shooting, optimization, and maintenance of its customers' digital asset mining equipment. In addition, the company provides electrical power, repair, and other infrastructure services to operate, maintain, and earn digital assets; and sells mining equipment to customers. Core Scientific, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Dover, Delaware.