Reviewing BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) & Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH)

Pathward Financial (NASDAQ:CASH) and BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Pathward Financial and BancFirst, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pathward Financial	0	1	1	0	2.50
BancFirst	1	2	0	0	1.67

Pathward Financial currently has a consensus target price of $90.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.68%. BancFirst has a consensus target price of $113.33, suggesting a potential upside of 3.46%. Given Pathward Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Pathward Financial is more favorable than BancFirst.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pathward Financial and BancFirst”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pathward Financial	$600.62 million	2.79	$168.36 million	$6.86	10.25
BancFirst	$645.29 million	5.64	$216.35 million	$6.61	16.57

BancFirst has higher revenue and earnings than Pathward Financial. Pathward Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BancFirst, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Pathward Financial and BancFirst’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pathward Financial	21.91%	22.02%	2.28%
BancFirst	23.52%	14.21%	1.68%

Risk & Volatility

Pathward Financial has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BancFirst has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.7% of Pathward Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.7% of BancFirst shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Pathward Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 32.4% of BancFirst shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Pathward Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Pathward Financial pays out 2.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BancFirst pays out 27.8% 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. BancFirst has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. BancFirst is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

BancFirst beats Pathward Financial on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pathward Financial

Pathward Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Pathward, National Association that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Corporate Services/Other. It offers demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, and money market savings accounts. The company also provides commercial finance product comprising term lending, asset-based lending, factoring, lease financing, insurance premium finance, government guaranteed lending, and other commercial finance products; consumer credit products; other consumer financing services; tax services, which includes short-term refund advance loans and short-term electronic return originator advance loans; and warehouse financing services. In addition, it issues prepaid cards; and offers payment solutions, such as acceptance, processing, and settlement of credit card and debit card payments. The company was formerly known as Meta Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Pathward Financial, Inc. in July 2022. Pathward Financial, Inc. was founded in 1954 and is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

About BancFirst

BancFirst Corporation operates as the bank holding company for BancFirst that provides a range of commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company operates through BancFirst Metropolitan Banks, BancFirst Community Banks, Pegasus, Worthington, and Other Financial Services segments. It offers checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, sweep accounts, club accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as overdraft protection and auto draft services. The company also provides commercial and agricultural non-real estate loans for working capital, facilities acquisition or expansion, purchase of equipment, and other needs; lending services that include private banking, energy, commercial and residential real estate, and commercial and industrial loans; and loans to finance purchases of consumer goods, such as automobiles, boats, household goods, vacations, and education. In addition, it engages in the investment management and administration of trusts for individuals, corporations, and employee benefit plans, as well as bond trustee and paying agent business for various Oklahoma municipalities and governmental entities; and provision of item processing, research, and other correspondent banking services to financial institutions and governmental units. Further, the company provides insurance agency services; depository and funds transfer, collection, safe deposit box, cash management, and other services. It serves customers in non-metropolitan trade centers and cities in the metropolitan statistical areas of Oklahoma. The company was formerly known as United Community Corporation and changed its name to BancFirst Corporation in November 1988. BancFirst Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.