Analyzing Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) and Truxton (OTCMKTS:TRUX)

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) and Truxton (OTCMKTS:TRUX) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Southern First Bancshares and Truxton, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern First Bancshares	0	1	1	1	3.00
Truxton	0	0	0	0	0.00

Southern First Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $51.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.35%. Given Southern First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than Truxton.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Truxton”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern First Bancshares	$213.35 million	2.07	$15.53 million	$3.23	16.68
Truxton	$78.37 million	3.16	$18.41 million	$7.28	11.81

Truxton has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Southern First Bancshares. Truxton is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern First Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Truxton shares are held by institutional investors. 7.1% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Truxton has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Truxton’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern First Bancshares	11.83%	7.63%	0.61%
Truxton	23.97%	N/A	N/A

Summary

Southern First Bancshares beats Truxton on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.

About Truxton

Truxton Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various banking, investment management, and trust administration services to individuals, businesses, and charitable institutions in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including demand, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also provides lending products, such as residential and commercial real estate mortgages, commercial loans, construction and land development loans, commercial and industrial loans, operating lines of credit, and loans to individual. In addition, the company offers strategic and capital advisory services, business banking, and treasury management services; and insurance products. The company was formerly known as NBT Holdings Inc. and changed its name to Truxton Corporation in May 2013. Truxton Corporation was founded in 2004 and is based in Nashville, Tennessee.