Analyzing FinWise Bancorp (NASDAQ:FINW) & Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for FinWise Bancorp and Business First Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FinWise Bancorp	1	2	2	0	2.20
Business First Bancshares	0	0	5	0	3.00

FinWise Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 63.79%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $34.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.97%. Given FinWise Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe FinWise Bancorp is more favorable than Business First Bancshares.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

35.4% of FinWise Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.4% of FinWise Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

FinWise Bancorp has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FinWise Bancorp	6.76%	7.04%	1.48%
Business First Bancshares	17.07%	11.03%	1.13%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares FinWise Bancorp and Business First Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FinWise Bancorp	$150.96 million	1.01	$16.09 million	$0.96	11.45
Business First Bancshares	$516.55 million	1.92	$87.86 million	$2.82	10.81

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

Summary

Business First Bancshares beats FinWise Bancorp on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FinWise Bancorp

FinWise Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for FinWise Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and corporate customers in Utah. The company offers various deposit products, including interest and noninterest bearing demand accounts, health savings account demand deposits, NOW and money market accounts, and checking and savings accounts, as well as time deposits and certificates of deposits. It also provides loans, including consumer, small business administration, commercial, commercial real estate, and residential real estate loans. In addition, the company offers debit cards, remote deposit capture, online banking, mobile banking, and direct deposit services; and business accounts and cash management services, such as business checking and savings accounts, and treasury services. FinWise Bancorp was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Murray, Utah.

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.