Head-To-Head Survey: CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB) & Midland States Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSBI)

Midland States Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSBI) and CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Midland States Bancorp and CrossFirst Bankshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Midland States Bancorp	0	4	0	0	2.00
CrossFirst Bankshares	0	1	3	0	2.75

Midland States Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $25.63, suggesting a potential upside of 17.01%. CrossFirst Bankshares has a consensus price target of $17.00, suggesting a potential upside of 40.73%. Given CrossFirst Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CrossFirst Bankshares is more favorable than Midland States Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Midland States Bancorp and CrossFirst Bankshares’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Midland States Bancorp	$470.89 million	1.02	$75.46 million	$2.94	7.45
CrossFirst Bankshares	$455.82 million	1.31	$66.67 million	$1.38	8.75

Midland States Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than CrossFirst Bankshares. Midland States Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CrossFirst Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Midland States Bancorp has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CrossFirst Bankshares has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Midland States Bancorp and CrossFirst Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Midland States Bancorp	15.17%	11.56%	0.97%
CrossFirst Bankshares	14.37%	11.05%	1.02%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

60.9% of Midland States Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.3% of CrossFirst Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 5.6% of Midland States Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of CrossFirst Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

CrossFirst Bankshares beats Midland States Bancorp on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Midland States Bancorp

Midland States Bancorp, Inc. operates as a financial holding company for Midland States Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, municipalities, and other entities. It operates through Banking, Wealth Management, and Other segments. The company provides a range of financial products and services to consumers and businesses, including commercial loans to finance agricultural equipment and production; and commercial real estate loans for owner occupied offices, warehouses and production facilities, office buildings, hotels, mixed-use residential and commercial facilities, retail centers, multifamily properties, and assisted living facilities. In addition, it offers construction and land development loans, such as real estate investment properties and residential developments, and lesser extent loans; and residential real estate loans, which includes first and second mortgage loans, and home equity lines of credit consisting of loans secured by first or second mortgages on primarily owner occupied primary residences. The company also provides consumer installment loans for the purchase of cars, boats and other recreational vehicles, as well as for the purchase of major appliances and other home improvement projects; and commercial equipment leasing programs for manufacturing, construction, transportation, and healthcare industries. Further, it offers merchant services; deposit products, including checking, time, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, as well as sweep accounts; letters of credit; and trust and wealth management services, such as financial and estate planning, trustee and custodial, investment management, tax, insurance, and business planning, corporate retirement plan consulting and administration, and retail brokerage services. The company was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Effingham, Illinois.

About CrossFirst Bankshares

CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for CrossFirst Bank that provides various banking and financial services to businesses, business owners, professionals, and its personal networks. The company offers commercial and industrial loans, including enterprise value lending; commercial real estate loans; construction and development loans, such as home builder lending; residential real estate, multifamily real estate, energy, SBA, and consumer loans; and credit cards. It also provides deposit banking products, including personal and business checking and savings accounts; treasury management services; money market accounts; certificates of deposits; negotiable order of withdrawal accounts; automated teller machine access; and mobile banking and international banking services, as well as non-interest-bearing demand deposits and interest-bearing deposits, including transaction accounts. In addition, the company acquires brokered deposits, internet subscription certificates of deposit, and reciprocal deposits. Further, it holds investments in marketable securities. The company serves its clients though branch network, as well as digital banking products. It has full-service banking offices in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.