Critical Review: First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) & Central Plains Bancshares (NASDAQ:CPBI)

Central Plains Bancshares (NASDAQ:CPBI) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.3% of Central Plains Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of Central Plains Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Central Plains Bancshares and First Busey, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Plains Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00
First Busey	0	4	3	0	2.43

First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.33, indicating a potential upside of 21.70%. Given First Busey’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Central Plains Bancshares.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Central Plains Bancshares and First Busey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Plains Bancshares	$27.31 million	2.50	$3.65 million	$0.99	16.31
First Busey	$663.36 million	3.02	$113.69 million	$1.12	20.05

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

Profitability

This table compares Central Plains Bancshares and First Busey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Plains Bancshares	13.34%	4.52%	0.76%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Volatility & Risk

Central Plains Bancshares has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Busey beats Central Plains Bancshares on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Central Plains Bancshares

Central Plains Bancshares, Inc. focuses on providing various banking products and services to retail customers, and small and medium-sized commercial customers in Nebraska, the United States. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, and certificate of deposit accounts. The company also provides one- to four-family residential mortgage loans secured by properties, as well as commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial loans, multi-family residential real estate loans, construction and land development loans, agricultural real estate and non-real estate loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it offers electronic banking services, including mobile banking, on-line banking and bill pay, and electronic funds transfer. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is based in Grand Island, Nebraska.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. The Banking segment provides banking services to individual customers, such as demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. This segment also offers banking services to corporate customers, including commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of investment and asset management, investment, brokerage, investment strategy consulting, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, business succession planning, and employee retirement plan services to individuals, businesses, and foundations; and professional farm management services to the agricultural industry. The FirsTech segment provides payment technology solutions comprising online, mobile, and voice-recognition bill payments; money management and credit card networks; direct debit services; lockbox remittance processing for payments made by mail; and walk-in payments, as well as tools to help clients with billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.