Head-To-Head Contrast: Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) & Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern First Bancshares	15.21%	9.65%	0.79%
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	14.42%	8.23%	1.11%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Southern First Bancshares and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern First Bancshares	0	1	2	0	2.67
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	3	2	0	2.40

Southern First Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $64.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.92%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a consensus price target of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.74%. Given Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is more favorable than Southern First Bancshares.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern First Bancshares	$224.62 million	2.57	$30.37 million	$4.28	14.25
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$935.52 million	3.44	$144.88 million	$1.52	21.78

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. 6.9% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by company 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

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida beats Southern First Bancshares on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stuart, FL.