Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) & Bank7 (NASDAQ:BSVN) Head to Head Contrast

Bank7 (NASDAQ:BSVN) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Bank7 has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bank7 and Southern First Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank7	31.38%	18.58%	2.34%
Southern First Bancshares	13.52%	8.76%	0.70%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bank7 and Southern First Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank7	$96.38 million	4.43	$43.07 million	$4.49	10.06
Southern First Bancshares	$224.62 million	2.17	$30.37 million	$3.74	15.88

Bank7 has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Southern First Bancshares. Bank7 is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern First Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Bank7 and Southern First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank7	0	1	3	0	2.75
Southern First Bancshares	0	2	1	0	2.33

Bank7 presently has a consensus target price of $54.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.50%. Southern First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $64.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.74%. Given Bank7’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bank7 is more favorable than Southern First Bancshares.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

23.5% of Bank7 shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.8% of Bank7 shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Southern First Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Bank7 beats Southern First Bancshares on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank7

Bank7 Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Bank7 that provides banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers. It offers commercial deposit, commercial checking, money market, and other deposit accounts; and retail deposit services, such as certificates of deposit, money market accounts, checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, and automated teller machine access. The company also provides commercial real estate, hospitality, energy, and commercial and industrial lending services; consumer lending services to individuals for personal and household purposes comprising residential real estate loans and mortgage banking services, personal lines of credit, loans for the purchase of automobiles, and other installment loans, as well as secured and unsecured term loans and home improvement loans. It operates through a network of full-service branches in Oklahoma, the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas metropolitan area, and Kansas. The company was formerly known as Haines Financial Corp. Bank7 Corp. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.