Financial Survey: Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) and Summit State Bank (NASDAQ:SSBI)

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) and Summit State Bank (NASDAQ:SSBI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Simmons First National and Summit State Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Simmons First National	1	2	4	2	2.78
Summit State Bank	1	0	0	0	1.00

Simmons First National currently has a consensus price target of $25.69, indicating a potential upside of 9.26%. Given Simmons First National’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Simmons First National is more favorable than Summit State Bank.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

27.6% of Simmons First National shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Simmons First National shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Simmons First National and Summit State Bank”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Simmons First National	$1.43 billion	2.38	-$397.55 million	$1.79	13.13
Summit State Bank	$58.82 million	1.31	$6.80 million	$0.06	189.33

Summit State Bank has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Simmons First National. Simmons First National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Summit State Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Simmons First National and Summit State Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Simmons First National	18.38%	8.73%	1.22%
Summit State Bank	0.59%	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Simmons First National has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Summit State Bank has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Simmons First National beats Summit State Bank on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services. It also provides ATM services; Internet and mobile banking platforms; overdraft facilities; and safe deposit boxes. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

About Summit State Bank

Summit State Bank engages in providing an array of financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, their owners and employees, entrepreneurs, high net worth families, foundations, estates, and individual consumers. It specializes in business services, personal accounts, nonprofit programs, and mobile banking ranging from lending, checking, merchant, eBanking, automated teller machines, equity loans, and others. The company was founded on December 20, 1982 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA.