Comparing Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) & Triumph Financial (NYSE:TFIN)

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) and Triumph Financial (NYSE:TFIN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Peoples Bancorp and Triumph Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp	0	2	3	1	2.83
Triumph Financial	0	5	2	0	2.29

Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $42.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.46%. Triumph Financial has a consensus target price of $78.80, indicating a potential upside of 29.47%. Given Triumph Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Triumph Financial is more favorable than Peoples Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of Triumph Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Triumph Financial shares are owned by company 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.

Profitability

This table compares Peoples Bancorp and Triumph Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp	19.76%	11.08%	1.41%
Triumph Financial	8.96%	5.57%	0.72%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Peoples Bancorp and Triumph Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peoples Bancorp	$462.90 million	2.98	$106.78 million	$3.39	11.32
Triumph Financial	$518.88 million	2.81	$25.36 million	$1.96	31.05

Peoples Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Triumph Financial. Peoples Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Triumph Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Triumph Financial has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats Triumph Financial on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Its principal subsidiary, Peoples Bank, provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses and local organizations. The company offers deposit accounts, loans, payment services and other banking products, along with services such as wealth management, insurance and equipment financing. Its branches and service areas extend across Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. Peoples traces its history to 1902, when it was established in Marietta.

About Triumph Financial

Triumph Financial, Inc. is a financial services company focused on payments, factoring and banking, with a particular emphasis on the transportation industry. Its services include freight-payment solutions through TriumphPay, invoice factoring through Triumph Business Capital and commercial banking through TBK Bank. TriumphPay connects freight brokers, carriers and other participants in the transportation-payment process, offering tools for invoice management, payment processing and related services.