Reviewing AmeriServ Financial (NASDAQ:ASRV) and FB Financial (NYSE:FBK)

AmeriServ Financial (NASDAQ:ASRV) and FB Financial (NYSE:FBK) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Dividends

AmeriServ Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. FB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. AmeriServ Financial pays out 36.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FB Financial pays out 31.6% 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. FB Financial has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

31.5% of AmeriServ Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.4% of FB Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of AmeriServ Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of FB 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 AmeriServ Financial and FB Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AmeriServ Financial	$88.34 million	0.75	$5.61 million	$0.33	11.79
FB Financial	$561.18 million	4.94	$122.62 million	$2.66	20.12

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for AmeriServ Financial and FB Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AmeriServ Financial	0	0	1	0	3.00
FB Financial	0	0	4	1	3.20

FB Financial has a consensus target price of $64.25, suggesting a potential upside of 20.05%. Given FB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FB Financial is more favorable than AmeriServ Financial.

Profitability

This table compares AmeriServ Financial and FB Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AmeriServ Financial	6.20%	4.78%	0.38%
FB Financial	14.26%	11.64%	1.40%

Volatility & Risk

AmeriServ Financial has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FB Financial has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

FB Financial beats AmeriServ Financial on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AmeriServ Financial

AmeriServ Financial, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of consumer, mortgage and commercial financial products and services through its subsidiary. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Wealth Management, and Investment or Parent. The Community Banking segment includes both retail and commercial banking activities. The Wealth Management segment involves in the operations of a Trust Company, West Chester Capital Advisors an investment advisory firm, and Financial Services. The Investment or Parent segment offers investment securities, borrowing activities, and general corporate expenses. The company was founded in January 1983 and is headquartered in Johnstown, PA.

About FB Financial

FB Financial Corporation operates as a bank holding company for FirstBank that provides a suite of commercial and consumer banking services to businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company operates in segments, such as Banking and Mortgage. It offers checking, demand, money market, and savings accounts; deposit and lending products and services to corporate, commercial, and consumer customers; and time deposits and certificates of deposits, as well as residential mortgage loans. The company also provides owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied real estate commercial, residential real estate 1-4 family mortgage, multi-family residential, commercial and industrial, construction, land acquisition, residential lines of credit, and land development loans; and consumer and other loans, such as car, boat, and other recreational vehicle loans, as well as manufactured homes without real estate and personal lines of credit. In addition, the company offers mortgage banking services through its bank branch network and mortgage banking offices in the southeastern United States; direct-to-consumer internet delivery channel; and trust, insurance, and investment services, as well as online and mobile banking services. The company operates full-service bank branches and limited-service branches locations throughout Tennessee, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, Jackson, Birmingham, Florence, Huntsville, Alabama, Bowling Green, and Kentucky; and mortgage offices throughout the southeastern United States. The company was formerly known as First South Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to FB Financial Corporation in 2016. FB Financial Corporation was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.