Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) & Woori Bank (NYSE:WF) Head to Head Comparison

Woori Bank (NYSE:WF) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Woori Bank and Southern First Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Woori Bank	13.28%	8.18%	0.52%
Southern First Bancshares	17.93%	10.79%	0.95%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Woori Bank and Southern First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Woori Bank	0	0	1	1	3.50
Southern First Bancshares	0	1	2	0	2.67

Southern First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $64.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.55%. Given Southern First Bancshares’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than Woori Bank.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.4% of Woori Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 6.9% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Woori Bank and Southern First Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Woori Bank	$16.27 billion	1.01	$2.16 billion	$8.68	7.67
Southern First Bancshares	$224.62 million	2.58	$30.37 million	$4.67	13.11

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

Volatility and Risk

Woori Bank has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Southern First Bancshares beats Woori Bank on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Woori Bank

Woori Financial Group Inc., a financial holding company, operates as a commercial bank that provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, corporations, and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Korea. It operates through Banking, Credit Card, Capital, Investment Banking, and Others segments. The company offers savings, demand, installment, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; repurchase instruments; and working capital, facilities, general purpose household, mortgage, and home equity loans. It also provides debit and credit cards, cash services, card loans, and related services; lease financing; and securities operation, sale of financial instruments, project financing, and other related solutions. In addition, the company offers credit purchase, cash advance, credit card loans, foreign exchange services and dealing, import and export-related services, offshore lending, syndicated loans and foreign currency securities investment, investment trust products, bancassurance, and private equity funds. Further, it is involved in the real estate trust, system software development and maintenance, financing, credit information, securities investment and trading, derivatives trading, trust, asset securitization, investment and international banking, money transfer, and other services. Additionally, the company offers automated telephone, internet, and mobile banking services; and trust management, trustee, and custodian services. Woori Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.