Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) & First Business Financial Services (NASDAQ:FBIZ) Head to Head Contrast

Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) and First Business Financial Services (NASDAQ:FBIZ) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Citizens and First Business Financial Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens	$40.95 million	1.37	$5.49 million	$2.02	4.88
First Business Financial Services	$279.25 million	2.24	$50.32 million	$6.81	11.02

First Business Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than Citizens. Citizens is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Business Financial Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Citizens and First Business Financial Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens	0	1	5	0	2.83
First Business Financial Services	0	0	4	1	3.20

Citizens currently has a consensus target price of $16.83, suggesting a potential upside of 70.90%. First Business Financial Services has a consensus target price of $82.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.90%. Given Citizens’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Citizens is more favorable than First Business Financial Services.

Risk and Volatility

Citizens has a beta of 0.13, indicating that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Business Financial Services has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. First Business Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Citizens pays out 4.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Business Financial Services pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Citizens has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and First Business Financial Services has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. First Business Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens and First Business Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	7.00%	11.28%	0.37%
First Business Financial Services	19.93%	15.04%	1.31%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.7% of Citizens shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.1% of First Business Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Citizens shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of First Business Financial Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

First Business Financial Services beats Citizens on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens

Citizens Holding Company was a bank holding company for Citizens Bank, a community banking institution headquartered in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The bank served individuals, businesses and public-sector customers through traditional banking products and services. Its offerings included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer and residential mortgage loans, commercial and agricultural lending, online banking and other deposit and credit services. Citizens Bank operated primarily in Mississippi, with a branch network focused on communities in the state’s east-central region.

About First Business Financial Services

First Business Financial Services, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Through First Business Bank and related businesses, it provides commercial banking, specialty finance, and wealth management services to businesses, business owners, and professionals. Its offerings include business loans and deposit accounts, cash and treasury management, and trust and investment services. Specialty finance services include asset-based lending, accounts receivable financing, and equipment financing.