Business First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) Valuation

Valuation

Model-based estimates, not advice. The DCF is the discounted-cash-flow value per share; compare it with the price, not as a target.

DCF fair value

-29.7%

$23.01

vs $32.72 price

Levered DCF

$25.09

After debt service

Piotroski score

6 / 9

Average

Altman Z-score

-0.58

Distress zone

Rating

B+

Overall 3 / 5

Ratios by fiscal year

Margins and yields are shares of revenue, equity or price; multiples are ×.

Metric	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021	FY2020	FY2019	FY2018
P/E	9.37×	11.32×	9.41×	9.46×	11.15×	12.34×	13.93×	19.08×
P/B	0.86×	0.84×	0.96×	0.86×	1.34×	0.9×	1.16×	1.04×
P/S	1.51×	1.47×	1.6×	1.9×	2.86×	2.19×	2.95×	3.21×
EV / EBITDA	7.66×	9.5×	10.78×	12.38×	10.18×	8.18×	13.63×	14.33×
Gross margin	60.9%	56.7%	63.0%	82.0%	87.9%	80.1%	77.0%	80.5%
Operating margin	22.2%	18.2%	23.5%	26.0%	31.8%	21.8%	26.5%	20.7%
Net margin	17.2%	14.2%	18.4%	20.5%	25.7%	17.8%	21.1%	16.8%
Current ratio	0.15×	0.06×	0.21×	0.22×	0.27×	0.22×	0.2×	0.24×
Debt / equity	0.61×	0.6×	0.99×	0.96×	0.43×	0.26×	0.65×	0.35×
Interest coverage	0.59×	0.44×	0.66×	1.88×	3.9×	1.66×	1.28×	1.24×
Dividend yield	2.9%	3.0%	2.9%	2.4%	1.6%	2.0%	1.5%	1.2%
Payout ratio	25.3%	31.1%	25.4%	22.4%	18.1%	25.1%	21.3%	23.3%

Key metrics by fiscal year

Metric	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021	FY2020	FY2019	FY2018
Return on equity	9.8%	8.1%	11.0%	9.3%	12.0%	7.3%	8.3%	5.4%
Return on invested capital	6.0%	4.9%	5.4%	4.6%	8.0%	5.5%	4.8%	3.9%
Return on assets	1.1%	0.8%	1.1%	0.9%	1.1%	0.7%	1.0%	0.7%
Free cash flow yield	11.9%	8.9%	13.1%	12.3%	9.0%	7.1%	6.2%	6.8%
Earnings yield	11.4%	9.6%	11.5%	10.8%	9.0%	8.1%	7.2%	5.2%
Enterprise value	$912.5M	$838.9M	$1B	$908.5M	$699.6M	$326.8M	$428.5M	$265.7M
Net debt / EBITDA	1.18×	1.86×	4.29×	5.55×	1.73×	-1.08×	3.07×	-0.21×
Cash conversion cycle (days)	20	18	-10	19	15	24	4	5