Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) versus Fold (NASDAQ:FLD) Critical Comparison

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Fold and Primis Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fold	1	0	2	1	2.75
Primis Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33

Fold currently has a consensus price target of $7.83, suggesting a potential upside of 429.28%. Primis Financial has a consensus price target of $1.00, suggesting a potential downside of 92.55%. Given Fold’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fold is more favorable than Primis Financial.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fold and Primis Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fold	$7.35 million	9.73	-$1.87 million	($0.75)	-1.97
Primis Financial	$277.00 million	1.19	$61.44 million	$1.93	6.96

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

Risk and Volatility

Fold has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Primis Financial has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Fold and Primis Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fold	N/A	60.59%	26.06%
Primis Financial	18.78%	4.11%	0.40%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.9% of Fold shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Primis Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 66.8% of Fold shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.0% of Primis Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Fold beats Primis Financial on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fold

FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, and similar business combination with one or more businesses or assets operating in the clean/renewable energy, water sustainability, agricultural technology, shared economy software, and mobility sectors. The company was formerly known as Emerald ESG Acquisition Corp. FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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.