Critical Review: Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) & CFN Enterprises (OTCMKTS:CNFN)

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) and CFN Enterprises (OTCMKTS:CNFN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Primis Financial and CFN Enterprises”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Primis Financial	$254.63 million	1.01	-$16.20 million	($0.09)	-116.22
CFN Enterprises	$20.22 million	0.84	-$4.29 million	($0.98)	-2.05

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

Profitability

This table compares Primis Financial and CFN Enterprises’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Primis Financial	-0.93%	-2.02%	-0.20%
CFN Enterprises	-20.50%	N/A	-89.39%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 11.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.8% of CFN Enterprises shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Primis Financial has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CFN Enterprises has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Primis Financial and CFN Enterprises, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Primis Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67
CFN Enterprises	0	0	0	0	0.00

Primis Financial presently has a consensus target price of $7.50, suggesting a potential downside of 28.30%. Given Primis Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Primis Financial is more favorable than CFN Enterprises.

Summary

Primis Financial beats CFN Enterprises on 9 of the 14 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 CFN Enterprises

CFN Enterprises Inc. engages in the sponsored content and marketing business in the United States. The company sets up and manages compliant and turnkey ad campaigns, as well as runs sponsored content, including articles, press releases, videos, podcasts, advertisements and other media, email advertisements, and other marketing campaigns for public and private companies. It also operates various media platforms, including CannabisFN.com, CFNMediaNews.com, and other venues to educate and inform investors interested in the cannabis industry; and distributes content across various online platforms, such as the CannabisFN.com website, press releases, financial news syndicates, search engines, YouTube, iTunes, Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others. In addition, the company is involved in the white label manufacturing and co-packing business; and cannabidiol manufacturing business. It serves cannabis, hemp, and wellness industries. The company was formerly known as Accelerize Inc. and changed its name to CFN Enterprises Inc. in October 2019. CFN Enterprises Inc. was founded in 2001 and is based in Whitefish, Montana.