Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) versus Truxton (OTCMKTS:TRUX) Financial Survey

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

Profitability

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

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

Analyst Ratings

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

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

Southern First Bancshares has a consensus price target of $51.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.43%. Given Southern First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than Truxton.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Truxton and Southern First Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Truxton	$78.37 million	3.18	$18.41 million	$7.28	11.88
Southern First Bancshares	$213.35 million	2.03	$15.53 million	$3.23	16.35

Truxton has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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 & Insider Ownership

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

Volatility & Risk

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

Summary

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

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.

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.