Critical Contrast: Prime Meridian (OTCMKTS:PMHG) versus Triumph Financial (NASDAQ:TFIN)

Triumph Financial (NASDAQ:TFIN) and Prime Meridian (OTCMKTS:PMHG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Triumph Financial has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prime Meridian has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Triumph Financial	10.47%	6.09%	0.88%
Prime Meridian	23.82%	13.19%	1.16%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Triumph Financial and Prime Meridian, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Triumph Financial	1	5	1	0	2.00
Prime Meridian	0	0	0	0	N/A

Triumph Financial presently has a consensus price target of $62.14, suggesting a potential downside of 11.21%. Given Triumph Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Triumph Financial is more favorable than Prime Meridian.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Triumph Financial and Prime Meridian’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Triumph Financial	$503.31 million	3.24	$102.31 million	$1.90	36.84
Prime Meridian	$32.67 million	2.23	$9.68 million	N/A	N/A

Triumph Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Prime Meridian.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.6% of Triumph Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.5% of Prime Meridian shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Triumph Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.9% of Prime Meridian shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Triumph Financial beats Prime Meridian on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Triumph Financial

Triumph Financial Inc., a financial holding company, engages in the provision of payments, factoring, and banking services in the United States. It operates through four segments: Banking, Factoring, Payments, and Corporate. The company offers depository products, including checking, savings, money market and certificates of deposit; and loan products comprising commercial real estate loans, land loans, commercial construction and land development loans, residential real estate loans, commercial agriculture loans, and consumer loans, as well as general commercial and industrial loans, loans to purchase capital equipment, asset-based loans, and business loans for working capital and operational purposes. It also provides electronic banking services, debit cards, insurance brokerage services, mortgage warehouse facilities, and transportation factoring services, as well as payments services offered through TriumphPay platform, a payments network for the over-the-road trucking industry. The company was formerly known as Triumph Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to Triumph Financial Inc. in December 2022. Triumph Financial Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for Prime Meridian Bank that provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market, savings, term certificate of deposit, demand interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing, health savings, NOW, and escrow accounts, as well as retirement savings plans and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial real estate, residential real estate and home equity, small business administration, construction, equipment, and commercial loans; and consumer and other loans comprising financing of automobiles, boats, and recreational vehicles, as well as issues standby letters and business lines of credit. The company also offers debit and credit cards; mobile banking, remote and mobile deposit, Apple Pay, bank-to-bank transfer, and online banking services; and safe deposit, wire transfer, foreign exchange, direct deposits, notary, night depository, official checks, domestic collections, bank drafts, automated teller services, drive-in tellers, merchant card, and banking by mail services, as well as invests in securities. Prime Meridian Holding Company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.