Head to Head Contrast: Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) and Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) and Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Business First Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Business First Bancshares	$516.55 million	1.93	$87.86 million	$2.82	10.84
Peoples Bancorp	$618.38 million	2.27	$106.78 million	$3.31	11.79

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Business First Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Business First Bancshares	0	0	5	0	3.00
Peoples Bancorp	0	2	3	0	2.60

Business First Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $34.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.66%. Peoples Bancorp has a consensus target price of $42.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.59%. Given Business First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Business First Bancshares is more favorable than Peoples Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Business First Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Business First Bancshares	17.07%	11.03%	1.13%
Peoples Bancorp	19.17%	10.71%	1.35%

Dividends

Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Peoples Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Business First Bancshares pays out 21.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Bancorp pays out 50.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Peoples Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats Business First Bancshares on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Business First Bancshares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for b1BANK that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products and services, including checking, demand, money market, time, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposits, remote deposit capture, and direct deposit services. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans, such as working capital, term, equipment financing, asset acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, and other loan products, as well as commercial lines of credit, accounts receivable factoring, agricultural financing, and letters of credit; construction and development loans; commercial real estate loans; residential real estate loans comprising first and second lien 1-4 family mortgage loans, and home equity lines of credit; and consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment, and term loans. In addition, it offers wealth management products, including mutual funds, annuities, individual retirement accounts, and other financial products, as well as other fiduciary and private banking products and services. Further, the company provides a range of other financial services comprising debit and credit cards, treasury and cash management, merchant, automated clearing house, lock-box, receivables factoring, correspondent banking, and other treasury services, as well as employee and payroll benefits solutions; and drive-through banking facilities, automated teller machines, night depository, personalized checks, electronic funds transfer, domestic and foreign wire transfer, traveler's checks, vault, loan and deposit sweep accounts, online and mobile banking, e-statements, and bank-by-mail services. Business First Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Inc. operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. The company accepts various deposit products, including demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and governmental deposits; and provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, construction, finance, residential real estate, and consumer indirect and direct loans, as well as home equity lines of credit and overdrafts. It also offers debit and automated teller machine (ATM) cards; safe deposit rental facilities; money orders and cashier’s checks; and telephone, mobile, and online banking services. In addition, the company provides various life, health, and property and casualty insurance products; third-party insurance administration; interactive teller machines; insurance premium financing; check deposit and alert notification; commercial and technology equipment leasing; fiduciary and trust; underwriting, origination, and servicing of equipment leases, and equipment financing agreements; and asset management and administration services, as well as employee benefit, retirement, and health care plan administration services. Further, it offers brokerage services through an unaffiliated registered broker-dealers; insurance premium finance lending and leasing; and credit cards to individuals and businesses, as well as provides merchant credit card transaction processing, and person-to-person payment processing services. Peoples Bancorp Inc. was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Marietta, Ohio.