Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) & BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) Critical Review

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Dividends

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. BayFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 45.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BayFirst Financial pays out -10.3% 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. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. BayFirst Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and BayFirst Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	16.93%	7.16%	1.02%
BayFirst Financial	-8.08%	-12.02%	-0.81%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and BayFirst Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	5	2	0	2.29
BayFirst Financial	1	0	0	0	1.00

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida currently has a consensus price target of $31.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.68%. Given Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is more favorable than BayFirst Financial.

Volatility and Risk

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BayFirst Financial has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.9% of BayFirst Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of BayFirst Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and BayFirst Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$582.24 million	5.73	$120.99 million	$1.69	20.19
BayFirst Financial	$66.78 million	0.40	$12.60 million	($3.11)	-2.11

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than BayFirst Financial. BayFirst Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida beats BayFirst Financial on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stuart, FL.

About BayFirst Financial

BayFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for BayFirst National Bank that provides community banking services for businesses and individuals. The company offers checking, savings, NOW, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement account; and safety deposit boxes. It also provides commercial real estate mortgages; construction and development, working capital, and business loans; auto, boat, and recreational vehicle loans; and residential mortgages, personal lines of credit, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company offers mobile and online banking, treasury management, wire transfers, cash management, merchant processing, remote deposit capture, night depositor, online bill payment, courier, retail investment, ACH originations, and other services. It operates full-service banking centers in St. Petersburg, Seminole, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Sarasota, Tampa, Belleair Bluffs, and Bradenton, Florida. The company was formerly known as First Home Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to BayFirst Financial Corp. in May 2021. BayFirst Financial Corp. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida.