Business First Bancshares saw an improvement in its IBD SmartSelect Composite Rating Tuesday, from 94 to 96.
The new score tells you the company is now outperforming 96% of all stocks in terms of the most important fundamental and technical stock-picking criteria. History shows the top market performers tend to have a 95 or higher score as they launch their major climbs.
Business First Bancshares is currently forming a consolidation, with a 30.30 buy point. See if the stock can break out in volume at least 40% above average. Understand that it is a thinly traded stock, with average daily dollar volume under $8 million. Such stocks may show wider daily or weekly fluctuations than stocks with greater trading volume.
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One weak spot is the company's 70 EPS Rating, which tracks quarterly and annual earnings growth. Look for that to improve to 80 or better to show it's in the top 20% of all stocks.
Its Accumulation/Distribution Rating of A- shows heavy buying by institutional investors, such as mutual funds and pension funds, over the last 13 weeks.
The company reported a 12% earnings-per-share gain for Q4. It has now posted accelerating EPS growth for four consecutive quarters. Revenue growth increased 29%, up from 3% in the prior report. That marks four consecutive reports with rising growth.
Business First Bancshares earns the No. 10 rank among its peers in the Financial Services-Specialty industry group. Marex Group, Sezzle and Tradeweb Markets are among the top 5 highly-rated stocks within the group.
