Head-To-Head Comparison: Consumer Portfolio Services (NASDAQ:CPSS) vs. Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST)

Consumer Portfolio Services (NASDAQ:CPSS) and Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Consumer Portfolio Services and Primis Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Consumer Portfolio Services	$206.32 million	0.91	$19.20 million	$0.80	10.58
Primis Financial	$149.36 million	1.79	-$16.20 million	$0.14	77.64

Consumer Portfolio Services has higher revenue and earnings than Primis Financial. Consumer Portfolio Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Primis Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Consumer Portfolio Services and Primis Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Consumer Portfolio Services	1	0	0	0	1.00
Primis Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33

Primis Financial has a consensus target price of $1.00, suggesting a potential downside of 90.80%. Given Primis Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Primis Financial is more favorable than Consumer Portfolio Services.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

47.6% of Consumer Portfolio Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 63.7% of Consumer Portfolio Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Consumer Portfolio Services has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Primis Financial has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Consumer Portfolio Services and Primis Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Consumer Portfolio Services	4.60%	6.59%	0.54%
Primis Financial	1.31%	-0.76%	-0.08%

Summary

Consumer Portfolio Services beats Primis Financial on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Consumer Portfolio Services

Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. It is involved in the purchase and service of retail automobile contracts originated by franchised automobile dealers and select independent dealers in the sale of new and used automobiles, light trucks, and passenger vans. The company, through its automobile contract purchases, offers indirect financing to the customers of dealers with limited credit histories or past credit problems. It also serves as an alternative source of financing for dealers, facilitating sales to customers who are not able to obtain financing from commercial banks, credit unions, and the captive finance companies. In addition, the company acquires installment purchase contracts in merger and acquisition transactions; purchases immaterial amounts of vehicle purchase money loans from non-affiliated lenders. It services its automobile contracts through its branches in California, Nevada, Virginia, Florida, and Illinois. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About Primis Financial

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also provides commercial business and real estate, construction, secured asset based, small business administration, mortgage warehouse lending products, as well as financing for medical, dental, and veterinary businesses; residential mortgage, trust mortgage, home equity lines of credit, secured and unsecured personal, and consumer loans, as well as life insurance premium financing and demand loans. It also offers cash management services comprising investment/sweep, zero balance, and controlled disbursement accounts; and wire transfer, employer/payroll processing, night depository, depository transfer, merchant, ACH origination, and remote deposit capture services. In addition, the company provides debit cards, ATM services, notary services, and mobile and online banking. It operates full-service branches in Virginia and Maryland. The company was formerly known as Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Inc. and changed its name to Primis Financial Corp. Primis Financial Corp. was founded in 2004 and is based in McLean, Virginia.