BFST
Business First Bancshares, Inc.
BFST's fundamentals are mixed, but it looks expensive: trading at 12x earnings, above its usual 10x. Analysts expect earnings growth.
BFST Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Strong | |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
BFST's revenue and profitability are currently healthy. Free cash flow and net leverage aren't meaningful measures for financial services companies like BFST.
BFST PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 8.2x | $22.92 | -29% |
| Fair | 10x | $27.95 | -14% |
| Forward | 10x | $32.41 | — |
| Expensive | 12x | $33.92 | +4.6% |
| Current | 12x | $32.41 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
BFST's PE is in its expensive range at 12x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 10x next year's earnings, in its fair range.
BFST Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Improving | |
| Growth | |
| Growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for BFST, with profitability improving.
BFST Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $3.23 | +16% |
| Q3 2026 | $2.80 | +8.1% |
| Q2 2026 | $2.82 | +12% |
| Q1 2026 | $2.82 | +16% |
| Q4 2025 | $2.79 | +23% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.59 | +12% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.51 | +3.7% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.43 | -4% |
| Q4 2024 | $2.26 | -13% |
BFST earned $2.80 per share over the past year, up 8.1% from the year before.
BFST Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $93.2M | +15% |
| Q2 2026 | $91.8M | +13% |
| Q1 2026 | $89.2M | +13% |
| Q4 2025 | $83.1M | +7.1% |
| Q3 2025 | $80.9M | +21% |
| Q2 2025 | $81.5M | +23% |
| Q1 2025 | $79.2M | +30% |
| Q4 2024 | $77.6M | +29% |
BFST's revenue has grown year over year for 10 quarters in a row: $93M last quarter, up 15% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 33% | -2.6 points |
| Q2 2026 | 33% | -1.4 points |
| Q1 2026 | 33% | +0.4 points |
| Q4 2025 | 33% | +5.7 points |
| Q3 2025 | 36% | +1.6 points |
| Q2 2025 | 34% | +1.5 points |
| Q1 2025 | 33% | +4.4 points |
| Q4 2024 | 27% | -6.3 points |
BFST's operating margin was 33% last quarter, down 2.6 points from the same quarter a year ago.
BFST Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $43.7M | +36% |
| Q2 2026 | $27.1M | +96% |
| Q1 2026 | $26.7M | -3.5% |
| Q4 2025 | $18.5M | +5% |
| Q3 2025 | $32.1M | +53% |
| Q2 2025 | $13.8M | -1.5% |
| Q1 2025 | $27.7M | +283% |
| Q4 2024 | $17.6M | +15% |
BFST's free cash flow was $116M over the past year, up 27% from the year before. Free cash flow isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like BFST.
BFST Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.1% | -32.7K shares |
| 1 year | +10% | +3.1M shares |
| 3 years | +29% | +7.4M shares |
| 5 years | +60% | +12.2M shares |
| Available history | +139% | +19.1M shares |
BFST has 33M diluted shares, up 10% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $6.3M |
| Q2 2026 | $4.8M |
| Q1 2026 | $2.8M |
| Q4 2022 | — |
| Q3 2022 | — |
| Q2 2022 | — |
| Q1 2022 | — |
| Q4 2021 | — |
BFST Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -2.0x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | 1.0x | Very low |
| Q3 2025 | 0.6x | Very low |
| Q2 2025 | 0.9x | Very low |
| Q1 2025 | 1.0x | Healthy |
| Q4 2024 | 1.6x | Healthy |
BFST has more cash than debt. Net leverage isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like BFST.
BFST Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 64.9 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 69.8 | Neutral |
BFST's weekly RSI is 65 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 70 (neutral).
BFST PE vs Financial Services Sector
| Metric | BFST | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 12x | 13x | 11% below |
| PE % | 80 | 63 | 17 pts above |
BFST is trading at 12x earnings, a 11% discount to the Financial Services sector's median of 13x.
BFST Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $31.5 | 3% above |
| 20 week MA | $31.3 | 3.4% above |
| 50 week MA | $29.2 | 11% above |
| 100 week MA | $26.9 | 20% above |
| 200 week MA | $24.0 | 35% above |
BFST is in an uptrend: it's above all five of its weekly moving averages, and 35% above its 200-week average.
BFST Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $24.9 | $20.0 | -20% |
| 2021 | $20.0 | $28.1 | +41% |
| 2022 | $28.1 | $22.0 | -22% |
| 2023 | $22.0 | $24.7 | +12% |
| 2024 | $24.7 | $25.7 | +4.3% |
| 2025 | $25.7 | $26.7 | +3.9% |
| 2026 YTD | $26.7 | $32.4 | +21% |
BFST has finished higher in four of the last six years. It's up 21% so far in 2026.