First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) & Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Head to Head Contrast

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) and Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.1% of First Foundation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.3% of First Foundation shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Foundation and Stock Yards Bancorp’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Foundation	$160.77 million	2.14	-$199.06 million	($3.66)	-1.66
Stock Yards Bancorp	$332.53 million	4.95	$107.75 million	$3.56	15.75

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

Dividends

First Foundation pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Stock Yards Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. First Foundation pays out -1.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stock Yards Bancorp pays out 33.7% 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. Stock Yards Bancorp has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Stock Yards Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for First Foundation and Stock Yards Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Foundation	0	4	1	0	2.20
Stock Yards Bancorp	0	2	2	0	2.50

First Foundation presently has a consensus target price of $7.80, suggesting a potential upside of 28.08%. Stock Yards Bancorp has a consensus target price of $62.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.49%. Given First Foundation’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe First Foundation is more favorable than Stock Yards Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares First Foundation and Stock Yards Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Foundation	1.34%	1.07%	0.07%
Stock Yards Bancorp	21.99%	12.18%	1.29%

Risk & Volatility

First Foundation has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stock Yards Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Stock Yards Bancorp beats First Foundation on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Foundation

First Foundation Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides banking services, investment advisory, wealth management, and trust services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Banking and Wealth Management. It offers a range of deposit products, including personal and business checking accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing demand deposit accounts, money market accounts, and time certificate of deposits; and loan products consisting of multifamily and single family residential real estate loans, commercial real estate loans, commercial term loans, and line of credits, as well as consumer loans, such as personal installment loans and line of credits, and home equity line of credits. The company also provides various specialized services comprising trust services, online and mobile banking, remote deposit capture services, merchant credit card services, ATM cards, Visa debit cards, and business sweep accounts, as well as insurance brokerage services and equipment financing solutions. In addition, it offers investment management and financial planning services; financial, investment, and economic advisory and related services; and treasury management services, such as bill pay, check/payee/ACH positive pay, wire origination, internal and external transfers, account reconciliation reporting, mobile deposit, lockbox, cash vault services and merchant processing. Further, the company provides support services, including the processing and transmission of financial and economic data for charitable organizations. It operates through a network of branch offices and loan production offices. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services. This segment also provides securities brokerage services through an arrangement with a third party broker-dealer. The WM&T segment provides investment management, financial and retirement planning, and trust and estate services, as well as retirement plan management for businesses and corporations. It provides services in Louisville, central, eastern, and northern Kentucky, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan markets. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.