Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Head-To-Head Analysis

Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Kentucky Bancshares and Southern First Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southern First Bancshares	13.52%	8.63%	0.70%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Kentucky Bancshares and Southern First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kentucky Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Southern First Bancshares	0	2	1	0	2.33

Southern First Bancshares has a consensus target price of $64.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.53%. Given Southern First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than Kentucky Bancshares.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kentucky Bancshares and Southern First Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southern First Bancshares	$118.09 million	3.89	$30.37 million	$3.74	14.94

Southern First Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Kentucky Bancshares.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Kentucky Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by 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.

Summary

Southern First Bancshares beats Kentucky Bancshares on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kentucky Bancshares

Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Kentucky Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposit, safe deposits, interest and noninterest bearing deposits, and time deposits. The company also offers commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans to small-to-medium-sized industrial, service, and agricultural businesses; and residential mortgages, installments, and other loans to individual and other non-commercial customers. In addition, it provides credit cards and other consumer-oriented financial services; brokerage services, annuities, life and long-term care insurance, personal trust, and agency services; and Internet banking services, such as bill payment. The company has operations in Bourbon, Clark, Elliott, Fayette, Harrison, Jessamine, Madison, Rowan, Scott, Woodford, and other counties in Kentucky. Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Paris, Kentucky.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.