BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) & FB Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBLA) Critical Survey

FB Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBLA) and BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

16.9% of BayFirst Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of FB Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.3% of BayFirst Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for FB Bancorp and BayFirst Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FB Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
BayFirst Financial	1	0	0	0	1.00

Profitability

This table compares FB Bancorp and BayFirst Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FB Bancorp	0.83%	0.93%	0.24%
BayFirst Financial	-29.20%	-37.66%	-2.21%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares FB Bancorp and BayFirst Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FB Bancorp	$69.94 million	3.45	$1.25 million	$0.04	372.75
BayFirst Financial	$104.19 million	0.22	-$22.94 million	($7.22)	-0.76

FB Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than BayFirst Financial. BayFirst Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FB Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

FB Bancorp has a beta of -0.08, suggesting that its stock price is 108% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BayFirst Financial has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

FB Bancorp beats BayFirst Financial on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FB Bancorp

FB Bancorp Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Fidelity Bank. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides deposit accounts, mortgages, home equity and consumer loans, credit and debit cards, online and mobile banking, investments and other financial services. FB Bancorp Inc. is based in New Orleans.

About BayFirst Financial

BayFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for BayFirst National Bank that provides community banking services for businesses and individuals. The company offers checking, savings, NOW, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement account; and safety deposit boxes. It also provides commercial real estate mortgages; construction and development, working capital, and business loans; auto, boat, and recreational vehicle loans; and residential mortgages, personal lines of credit, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company offers mobile and online banking, treasury management, wire transfers, cash management, merchant processing, remote deposit capture, night depositor, online bill payment, courier, retail investment, ACH originations, and other services. It operates full-service banking centers in St. Petersburg, Seminole, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Sarasota, Tampa, Belleair Bluffs, and Bradenton, Florida. The company was formerly known as First Home Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to BayFirst Financial Corp. in May 2021. BayFirst Financial Corp. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida.