Head to Head Review: Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) vs. Lyons Bancorp (OTCMKTS:LYBC)

Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) and Lyons Bancorp (OTCMKTS:LYBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Bank First has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lyons Bancorp has a beta of -0.07, indicating that its share price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bank First and Lyons Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank First	$240.60 million	3.95	$74.51 million	$8.14	11.67
Lyons Bancorp	$70.28 million	1.94	$17.35 million	$4.45	9.10

Bank First has higher revenue and earnings than Lyons Bancorp. Lyons Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank First, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

30.0% of Bank First shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Lyons Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Bank First 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Bank First and Lyons Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank First	0	2	0	0	2.00
Lyons Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Bank First presently has a consensus price target of $102.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.39%. Given Bank First’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bank First is more favorable than Lyons Bancorp.

Dividends

Bank First pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Lyons Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Bank First pays out 19.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lyons Bancorp pays out 36.0% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Bank First and Lyons Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank First	32.02%	10.16%	1.50%
Lyons Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Bank First beats Lyons Bancorp on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank First

Bank First Corporation operates as a holding company for Bank First, N.A. that provides consumer and commercial financial services to businesses, professionals, consumers, associations, individuals, and governmental authorities in Wisconsin. It offers checking, savings, money market, cash management, retirement, and health savings accounts; other time deposits; certificates of deposit; and residential mortgage products. The company's loan products include real estate loans, including commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and home equity loans; commercial and industrial loans for working capital, accounts receivable, inventory financing, and other business purposes; construction and development loans; residential 1-4 family loans; and consumer loans for personal and household purposes, including secured and unsecured installment loans, and revolving lines of credit. It also provides credit cards; ATM processing; insurance; data processing and other information technology; investment and safekeeping; treasury management; and online, telephone, and mobile banking services. The company was formerly known as Bank First National Corporation and changed its name to Bank First Corporation in June 2019. Bank First Corporation was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

About Lyons Bancorp

Lyons Bancorp Inc. operates as a financial holding company for The Lyons National Bank that provides a range of commercial and retail banking services to individual and small business customers. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit; commercial real estate, agricultural real estate, commercial and agricultural, and consumer instalment loans; and residential real estate loans, such as classes for 1-4 family and home equity loans, as well as consumer loans comprising recreational, auto, personal, personal line of credit, and home improvement loans; financial services, including retirement strategy, investment management, education savings, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and employer and employee benefit services. The company also provides mortgage, online and mobile banking, telephone banking, credit and debit card, online cash management, merchant, safe deposit boxes, wire transfer, traveller program, online bill pay, e-statements, money orders, and official checks services. It operates branches in Wayne, Onondaga, Yates, Ontario, Monroe, Seneca, and Cayuga counties, New York. The company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Lyons, New York.