Reviewing Bridgewater Bancshares (NASDAQ:BWB) and First Horizon (NYSE:FHN)

Bridgewater Bancshares (NASDAQ:BWB) and First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Bridgewater Bancshares and First Horizon, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bridgewater Bancshares	0	0	4	0	3.00
First Horizon	1	12	8	0	2.33

Bridgewater Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $23.67, suggesting a potential upside of 15.48%. First Horizon has a consensus price target of $27.02, suggesting a potential upside of 17.78%. Given First Horizon’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Horizon is more favorable than Bridgewater Bancshares.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bridgewater Bancshares and First Horizon”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bridgewater Bancshares	$292.76 million	1.95	$46.09 million	$1.84	11.14
First Horizon	$5.00 billion	2.18	$982.00 million	$2.09	10.98

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.8% of Bridgewater Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.3% of First Horizon shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.1% of Bridgewater Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of First Horizon shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Bridgewater Bancshares and First Horizon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bridgewater Bancshares	18.38%	11.21%	0.95%
First Horizon	21.12%	12.06%	1.26%

Volatility & Risk

Bridgewater Bancshares has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Horizon has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Horizon beats Bridgewater Bancshares on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bridgewater Bancshares

Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bridgewater Bank that provides banking products and services to commercial real estate investors, entrepreneurs, business clients, and individuals in the United States. The company provides savings and money market accounts, demand deposits, time and brokered deposits, and interest and noninterest bearing transaction, as well as certificates of deposit. It offers commercial loans to sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and other business enterprises to finance working capital, capital investment, or for other business related purposes; paycheck protection program loans; construction and land development loans; 1-4 family mortgage loans; multifamily lending products; owner and non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company online, mobile, and direct banking services. Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota.

About First Horizon

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments. The company also accepts deposits; provides underwriting services for bank-eligible securities and other fixed-income securities by financial subsidiaries; sells loans and derivatives; financial planning; and offers investment and financial advisory services. In addition, it offers mortgage banking; loan syndications; brokerage services; commercial and business banking for business enterprises, consumer banking, and private client and wealth management services; capital markets, professional commercial real estate, mortgage warehouse and asset-based lending, franchise and equipment finance, tax credit finance, energy and healthcare finance, asset management, and corporate and correspondent banking services. Further, the company provides transaction processing services including check clearing services and remittance processing, credit cards, investment, and sale of mutual fund and retail insurances, as well as trust, fiduciary, and agency services. First Horizon Corporation was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.