Reviewing FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and FirstSun Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:FSUN) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of FirstSun Capital Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares First Busey and FirstSun Capital Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	11.00%	9.05%	1.11%
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	15.94%	9.00%	1.17%

Volatility & Risk

First Busey has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstSun Capital Bancorp has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for First Busey and FirstSun Capital Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0	4	3	0	2.43
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	0	1	3	0	2.75

First Busey presently has a consensus target price of $26.33, indicating a potential upside of 6.12%. FirstSun Capital Bancorp has a consensus target price of $43.33, indicating a potential upside of 11.27%. Given FirstSun Capital Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe FirstSun Capital Bancorp is more favorable than First Busey.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First Busey and FirstSun Capital Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Busey	$663.36 million	3.31	$113.69 million	$1.15	21.58
FirstSun Capital Bancorp	$398.49 million	2.73	$75.63 million	$3.16	12.32

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than FirstSun Capital Bancorp. FirstSun Capital Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

FirstSun Capital Bancorp beats First Busey on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. The Banking segment provides banking services to individual customers, such as demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. This segment also offers banking services to corporate customers, including commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of investment and asset management, investment, brokerage, investment strategy consulting, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, business succession planning, and employee retirement plan services to individuals, businesses, and foundations; and professional farm management services to the agricultural industry. The FirsTech segment provides payment technology solutions comprising online, mobile, and voice-recognition bill payments; money management and credit card networks; direct debit services; lockbox remittance processing for payments made by mail; and walk-in payments, as well as tools to help clients with billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.

About FirstSun Capital Bancorp

FirstSun Capital Bancorp engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Mortgage Operations, and Corporate. The Banking segment consists of loans and provides deposits and fee-based services to consumer, business, and mortgage lending customers. The Mortgage Operations segment originates, sells, services, and manages market risk from changes in interest rates on one-to-four family residential mortgage loans to sell and hold. The company is founded on November 9, 1981 headquartered in Denver, CO.