Head to Head Survey: 1st Capital Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FISB) vs. Regions Financial (NYSE:RF)

1st Capital Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FISB) and Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for 1st Capital Bancorp and Regions Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
1st Capital Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Regions Financial	1	11	6	0	2.28

Regions Financial has a consensus target price of $20.28, indicating a potential upside of 1.93%. Given Regions Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Regions Financial is more favorable than 1st Capital Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

8.1% of 1st Capital Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Regions Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Regions Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares 1st Capital Bancorp and Regions Financial’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
1st Capital Bancorp	$41.09 million	1.66	$3.54 million	N/A	N/A
Regions Financial	$9.15 billion	1.99	$2.07 billion	$1.84	10.82

Regions Financial has higher revenue and earnings than 1st Capital Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

1st Capital Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Regions Financial has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares 1st Capital Bancorp and Regions Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
1st Capital Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Regions Financial	19.75%	13.28%	1.31%

Summary

Regions Financial beats 1st Capital Bancorp on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About 1st Capital Bancorp

1st Capital Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for 1st Capital Bank that provides various banking products and services for businesses, professionals, real estate investors, family commercial entities, and individuals in the Central Coast region of California. It offers checking, saving, money market, savings, and certificate of deposit accounts, as well as individual retirement and health savings accounts; and other services including debit cards, check orders, and cannabis banking services. The company also provides lending services, which includes business, agriculture, and wine industry lending; commercial real estate and personal loans; and small business administration loans, and government guaranteed lending solutions. In addition, it offers electronic banking services including online services, such as personal and business online banking; and cash management services comprising ACH origination, online wire transfer, positive pay, merchant card, and remote deposit capture services. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Salinas, California.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. It also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.