Critical Comparison: Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for U.S. Bancorp and Southern First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Bancorp	0	10	9	0	2.47
Southern First Bancshares	0	0	1	0	3.00

U.S. Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $53.68, suggesting a potential upside of 9.92%. Southern First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.43%. Given U.S. Bancorp’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe U.S. Bancorp is more favorable than Southern First Bancshares.

Risk and Volatility

U.S. Bancorp has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.6% of U.S. Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of U.S. Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares U.S. Bancorp and Southern First Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Bancorp	12.92%	12.91%	0.96%
Southern First Bancshares	6.67%	4.42%	0.34%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares U.S. Bancorp and Southern First Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Bancorp	$27.09 billion	2.81	$5.43 billion	$3.27	14.93
Southern First Bancshares	$89.52 million	3.70	$13.43 million	$1.73	23.46

U.S. Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Southern First Bancshares. U.S. Bancorp 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.

Summary

U.S. Bancorp beats Southern First Bancshares on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional organizations, governmental entities, and other financial institutions in the United States. It operates through Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking; Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; and Treasury and Corporate Support segments. The company offers depository services, including checking accounts, savings accounts, and time certificate contracts; and lending services, such as traditional credit products and credit card services, lease financing and import/export trade, asset-backed lending, agricultural finance, and other products. It also provides ancillary services comprising capital markets, treasury management, and receivable lock-box collection services to corporate and governmental entity customers. In addition, the company offers asset management and fiduciary services for individuals, estates, foundations, business corporations, and charitable organizations. Further, it provides investment and insurance products to its customers principally within its domestic markets, as well as fund administration services to mutual and other funds. Additionally, the company provides corporate and purchasing card, and corporate trust services. Furthermore, it offers trust and investment management, merchant and ATM processing, mortgage banking, insurance, and brokerage and leasing services. U.S. Bancorp was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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.