Harleysville Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Head to Head Review

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Harleysville Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern First Bancshares	$93.34 million	2.87	$15.53 million	$1.92	17.07
Harleysville Financial	$40.39 million	1.99	$2.05 million	$2.29	9.69

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern First Bancshares	7.28%	4.85%	0.38%
Harleysville Financial	20.43%	9.69%	0.97%

Risk & Volatility

Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harleysville Financial has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of Harleysville Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of Southern First Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of Harleysville Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Southern First Bancshares beats Harleysville Financial on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Harleysville Financial

Harleysville Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Harleysville Bank that provides various banking products and services in Pennsylvania. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, money market, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. It also provides consumer loans, including residential mortgages, savings account loans, and home equity line of credit, construction, and non-real estate consumer loans; and commercial loans, such as commercial mortgages, line of credit, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers online banking and bill payment, mobile and telephone banking, remote deposit, debit cards, automated clearing house processing, sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, employee services, and other cash management services. Further, it provides investment services, such as financial consultation, cash and wealth management, education planning, investment strategy, insurance, retirement and estate planning, financial and goal planning, and asset allocation services, as well as offers investment products, such as fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, life insurances, stocks and bonds, tax-advantaged investments, long-term care insurances, disability insurances, retirement plans/individual retirement accounts, wrap accounts, and unit investment trusts. Its primary market area includes Montgomery County and Bucks County. The company was formerly known as Harleysville Savings Financial Corporation and changed its name to Harleysville Financial Corporation in May 2017. Harleysville Financial Corporation was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.