FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) and Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Head to Head Review

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) and FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Lakeland Financial and FirstSun Capital Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lakeland Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	0	1	4	0	2.80

Lakeland Financial currently has a consensus price target of $70.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.12%. FirstSun Capital Bancorp has a consensus price target of $46.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.57%. Given FirstSun Capital Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe FirstSun Capital Bancorp is more favorable than Lakeland Financial.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.2% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of FirstSun Capital Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lakeland Financial and FirstSun Capital Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lakeland Financial	$430.00 million	3.55	$93.48 million	$3.67	16.29
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	$549.33 million	1.95	$75.63 million	$3.13	12.29

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

Risk & Volatility

Lakeland Financial has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstSun Capital Bancorp has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lakeland Financial and FirstSun Capital Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lakeland Financial	22.55%	13.57%	1.39%
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	15.99%	9.24%	1.19%

Summary

Lakeland Financial beats FirstSun Capital Bancorp on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lakeland Financial

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and multi-family residential, construction, agri-business and agricultural, consumer 1-4 family mortgage, and other commercial and consumer loans. The company also provides retail and merchant credit card services; corporate treasury management, wealth advisory, and trust services; retail brokerage services, including various financial and investment products, such as annuities and life insurance; and mobile business banking and on-line treasury management services. It serves commercial real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, retail, wholesale, finance and insurance, accommodation and food services, and health care industries. The company was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana.

About FirstSun Capital Bancorp

FirstSun Capital Bancorp engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Mortgage Operations, and Corporate. The Banking segment consists of loans and provides deposits and fee-based services to consumer, business, and mortgage lending customers. The Mortgage Operations segment originates, sells, services, and manages market risk from changes in interest rates on one-to-four family residential mortgage loans to sell and hold. The company is founded on November 9, 1981 headquartered in Denver, CO.