Stocks · Financial Services · Banks - Regional
Business First Bancshares, Inc. BFST
$30.90 +1.44% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $1.01B
Next earnings report: Oct 26, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 9 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +5.3%).
- The diluted share count rose 11.0% in a year.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 218 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth25Very weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 14%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 41%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 45%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 20%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 11%
Quality27Very weak
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 36%
- Gross marginBottom 31%
- Operating marginBottom 28%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 46%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 40%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 42%
- Interest coverBottom 18%
Value63Neutral
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 23%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 38%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 46%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 32%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 25%
Momentum78Positive
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 19%
- 6-month returnTop 35%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 19%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 24%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 48%
Revisions85Strong
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 47%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 11%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 2%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 37%
Stability56Neutral
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 26%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 47%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 32%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 42%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 8.8% | -7.6% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 16.0% | 12.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 58.2% | 56.4% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 19.9% | 13.1% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 16.2% | 21.7% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -7.6% | 8.8% | ↓ | Bottom 14% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 12.4% | 16.0% | ↓ | Bottom 41% |
| Gross margin | 56.4% | 58.2% | ↓ | Bottom 31% |
| Operating margin | 13.1% | 19.9% | ↓ | Bottom 28% |
| Net margin | 20.4% | 15.6% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 21.7% | 16.2% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 0.5% | — | Bottom 36% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 24.7% | — | Top 20% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.11×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -0.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +13.7 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.65×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 0.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.82%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.12%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.93%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +11.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +9.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 9
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.8%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 7 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $34.50
- Target vs current price
- +11.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 4
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 100%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | +1.4% | -0.1% | +5.0% | +1.8% | — |
| Apr 27, 2026 | +5.8% | -4.4% | -2.7% | -1.5% | +7.9% |
| Jan 22, 2026 | +9.7% | -0.1% | -4.4% | +1.9% | +2.8% |
| Oct 23, 2025 | +4.3% | +0.0% | +5.8% | +5.4% | +14.2% |
| Jul 28, 2025 | +1.5% | -2.4% | -9.8% | +0.1% | -8.8% |
| Apr 24, 2025 | +6.6% | +1.9% | -0.7% | +2.2% | +12.9% |
| Jan 23, 2025 | +34.7% | +0.0% | +7.8% | +6.6% | -10.7% |
| Oct 24, 2024 | +19.3% | -1.2% | +7.1% | +9.2% | +0.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | $0.71 | $0.70 | +1.4% | $91.8M |
| Apr 27, 2026 | $0.73 | $0.69 | +5.8% | $89.2M |
| Jan 22, 2026 | $0.79 | $0.72 | +9.7% | $83.1M |
| Oct 23, 2025 | $0.72 | $0.69 | +4.3% | $80.8M |
| Jul 28, 2025 | $0.66 | $0.65 | +1.5% | $78.3M |
| Apr 24, 2025 | $0.65 | $0.61 | +6.6% | $77.8M |
| Jan 23, 2025 | $0.66 | $0.49 | +34.7% | $77.4M |
| Oct 24, 2024 | $0.68 | $0.57 | +19.3% | $66.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 11.0× | 9.8× | 81th | Top 23% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.3× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.8× | — | — | Bottom 46% |
| EV / Sales | 2.31× | — | — | Top 32% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 9.79% | — | — | Top 38% |
| Earnings yield | 9.13% | — | — | Top 23% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 5.6× – 11.3× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +31.9%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +12.4%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +22.6%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 218
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.5%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +6.9%
- RSI (14)
- 50.1
- Relative volume
- 0.91×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 16.1%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 0th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.85
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.48
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -4.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -28.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 2022 | May 4, 2023 | -53.3% | 331 days | 380 days (Nov 6, 2024) |
| Nov 11, 2024 | Apr 8, 2025 | -28.0% | 100 days | 207 days (Feb 4, 2026) |
| Feb 4, 2026 | Mar 20, 2026 | -13.9% | 31 days | 65 days (Jun 24, 2026) |
| Apr 5, 2021 | Sep 16, 2021 | -13.3% | 115 days | 15 days (Oct 7, 2021) |
| Mar 19, 2021 | Mar 23, 2021 | -11.8% | 2 days | 8 days (Apr 5, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.01B
- P/E (TTM)
- 11.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.82
- Revenue (TTM)
- $455.3M
- Dividend yield
- 1.94%
- 52-week range
- $22.56 – $32.53
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $203.1M | $264.1M | $385.6M | $457.7M | $511.9M |
| Gross profit | $178.5M | $216.7M | $242.9M | $259.5M | $311.9M |
| Operating income | $64.6M | $68.6M | $90.6M | $83.1M | $113.4M |
| Net income | $52.1M | $54.3M | $71.0M | $65.1M | $87.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.53 | $2.32 | $2.59 | $2.26 | $2.78 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $113.2M | $127.8M | $125.5M | $126.2M | $130.2M | $130.0M | $133.8M | $61.2M |
| Net income | $17.8M | $16.5M | $20.5M | $22.1M | $22.9M | $22.4M | $23.6M | $24.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.65 | $0.51 | $0.65 | $0.70 | $0.73 | $0.71 | $0.68 | $0.70 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $56.4M | $69.6M | $92.4M | $61.4M | $92.1M |
| Capital expenditure | -$4.0M | -$7.8M | -$11.6M | -$1.6M | -$66,000 |
| Free cash flow | $52.5M | $61.8M | $80.8M | $59.8M | $92.1M |
| Dividends paid | -$9.4M | -$10.8M | -$12.7M | -$14.9M | -$16.8M |
| Net share buybacks | -$7.4M | $48.5M | $0 | -$31,000 | -$3.7M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.62B
- Total assets
- $8.90B
- Total liabilities
- $7.89B
- Total debt
- $616.1M
- Net debt
- $40.5M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.01B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2026 | $0.15 | Aug 31, 2026 |
| May 15, 2026 | $0.15 | May 29, 2026 |
| Feb 13, 2026 | $0.15 | Feb 28, 2026 |
| Nov 14, 2025 | $0.15 | Nov 30, 2025 |
| Aug 15, 2025 | $0.14 | Aug 31, 2025 |
| May 15, 2025 | $0.14 | May 31, 2025 |
| Feb 14, 2025 | $0.14 | Feb 28, 2025 |
| Nov 15, 2024 | $0.14 | Nov 30, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,111,825
- Days to cover
- 5.82
- Change vs previous report
- +9.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.