Financial Comparison: Bank First National (NASDAQ:BFC) versus Community Heritage Financial (OTCMKTS:CMHF)

Bank First National (NASDAQ:BFC) and Community Heritage Financial (OTCMKTS:CMHF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Bank First National and Community Heritage Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank First National	29.04%	10.92%	1.56%
Community Heritage Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Bank First National and Community Heritage Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank First National	0	1	1	0	2.50
Community Heritage Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00

Bank First National currently has a consensus target price of $133.50, indicating a potential upside of 4.01%. Given Bank First National’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bank First National is more favorable than Community Heritage Financial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

30.0% of Bank First National shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.2% of Community Heritage Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Bank First National shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bank First National and Community Heritage Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank First National	$162.47 million	7.77	$65.56 million	$6.93	18.52
Community Heritage Financial	$57.30 million	1.43	$8.12 million	$2.77	10.11

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

Dividends

Bank First National pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Community Heritage Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Bank First National pays out 26.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Community Heritage Financial pays out 11.6% 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. Bank First National has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Bank First National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Bank First National has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Community Heritage Financial has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bank First National beats Community Heritage Financial on 16 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank First National

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 Community Heritage Financial

Community Heritage Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Middletown Valley Bank that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Frederick and Washington counties in Maryland and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Its primary deposit products include demand, savings, and time deposits, as well as lending products comprise real estate mortgages, commercial business loans, and instalment loans. The company also offers mortgage financing, new home purchases, refinancing, and construction lending in Middletown, Crofton, and Oakland, Maryland. The company was founded in 1908 and is based in Middletown, Maryland.