Summit State Bank (NASDAQ:SSBI) versus Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) Head to Head Comparison

Summit State Bank (NASDAQ:SSBI) and Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

27.6% of Simmons First National shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Simmons First National shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Summit State Bank has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Simmons First National has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Summit State Bank and Simmons First National, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Summit State Bank	1	0	0	0	1.00
Simmons First National	1	2	4	2	2.78

Simmons First National has a consensus price target of $25.69, indicating a potential upside of 10.65%. Given Simmons First National’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Simmons First National is more favorable than Summit State Bank.

Profitability

This table compares Summit State Bank and Simmons First National’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Summit State Bank	0.59%	N/A	N/A
Simmons First National	18.38%	8.73%	1.22%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Summit State Bank and Simmons First National”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Summit State Bank	$58.82 million	1.30	$6.80 million	$0.06	188.42
Simmons First National	$978.03 million	3.43	-$397.55 million	$1.79	12.97

Summit State Bank has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Simmons First National. Simmons First National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Summit State Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Simmons First National beats Summit State Bank on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Summit State Bank

Summit State Bank engages in providing an array of financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, their owners and employees, entrepreneurs, high net worth families, foundations, estates, and individual consumers. It specializes in business services, personal accounts, nonprofit programs, and mobile banking ranging from lending, checking, merchant, eBanking, automated teller machines, equity loans, and others. The company was founded on December 20, 1982 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA.

About Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services. It also provides ATM services; Internet and mobile banking platforms; overdraft facilities; and safe deposit boxes. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.