BY vs FRST

Key Takeaways

• Byline Bancorp (BY) is a Chicago-based commercial bank with approximately $9.8 billion in assets, delivering record revenue of $446.3 million in full-year 2025 and strong profitability metrics including a net interest margin (NIM) of 4.35% in the fourth quarter.
• Primis Financial (FRST) is a Virginia-based regional bank with roughly $4.0 billion in assets that completed a transformative sale-leaseback transaction in late 2025, boosting tangible book value (TBV) by 13.2% and recurring earnings by 15.0% on a proforma basis.
• BY trades at a higher price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 11.7 and has gained over 44% in the past year, while FRST trades at a P/E of roughly 7.1 with a one-year gain exceeding 50%, reflecting its recovery-driven trajectory.
• Both banks operate in the regional banking sector, but BY demonstrates more consistent earnings execution, while FRST offers a restructuring-driven value proposition with historically lower capital ratios now improving.
• Dividend investors may note FRST offers a higher yield at approximately 2.45%, compared to BY's yield of around 1.45%, though payout sustainability metrics differ meaningfully between the two.

Introduction

Regional banks occupy a critical segment of the U.S. financial landscape, serving as barometers for local economic health and commercial lending activity. This comparison examines two publicly traded regional bank holding companies — Byline Bancorp, Inc. (BY) and Primis Financial Corp. (FRST) — that operate in distinct geographic markets with notably different scale, growth strategies, and financial profiles. For investors and traders evaluating regional banking exposure, understanding how these two institutions stack up across dimensions such as profitability, balance-sheet strength, recent momentum, and market sentiment can offer valuable context. Both stocks have generated significant shareholder returns over the past twelve months, yet the drivers behind those returns reveal fundamentally different narratives.

BY Overview and Recent Performance

Byline Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Byline Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The institution focuses on serving small and medium-sized businesses, commercial real estate sponsors, and consumers across the United States. With total assets approaching the $10 billion threshold — a regulatory milestone that brings additional oversight requirements — Byline has positioned itself as a growing force in the Chicago commercial banking market. The company's full-year 2025 results underscored this trajectory, with record revenues of $446.3 million, net income of $130.1 million (up 7.7% year-over-year), and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.89.

Recent market activity has reflected sustained investor confidence in Byline's execution. The stock has climbed approximately 33% year-to-date and roughly 45% over the trailing twelve months, supported by a tangible book value per share that expanded 16.7% year-over-year to $23.44. Key profitability metrics remain robust: the net interest margin (NIM — the spread between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits) reached 4.35% in the fourth quarter, while the efficiency ratio — a measure of operating expenses relative to revenue — improved to 50.32%, well below the regional banking average. The company's Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1 — a core regulatory capital measure) ratio of 12.33% signals strong capital adequacy. Analysts maintain a consensus "Buy" rating with a twelve-month price target near $42.20, implying further upside from recent trading levels.

FRST Overview and Recent Performance

Primis Financial Corp. serves as the holding company for Primis Bank, operating twenty-four full-service branches across Virginia and Maryland. With approximately $4.0 billion in total assets, the bank provides a range of financial services to individuals and small- to medium-sized businesses, with specialized exposure to mortgage lending and investments in fintech-oriented ventures such as Panacea Financial Holdings. The company's 2025 represented a pivotal year of repositioning, marked by a landmark sale-leaseback transaction involving eighteen branch properties that generated approximately $58 million in proceeds and a pre-tax gain of $48 million.

The restructuring materially altered Primis's financial profile. On a proforma basis reflecting the full implementation of restructuring measures, tangible book value per share rose 13.2% to $13.25, while the consolidated CET1 ratio improved from 8.62% to 9.32%. Full-year 2025 net income reached $61 million, or $2.49 per diluted share — a significant turnaround from the net loss of $16 million reported in 2024. The fourth quarter alone delivered net income of $30 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, though this period benefited substantially from the one-time sale-leaseback gain. The stock has rallied sharply from its 52-week low of $9.55, recently trading near $15.80, reflecting a market that has responded favorably to management's restructuring execution. The company also authorized a share repurchase program of up to 750,000 shares and continues paying a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.

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Head-to-Head Comparison

The most immediate contrast between BY and FRST lies in scale and market positioning. Byline Bancorp, at roughly $9.8 billion in assets and a market capitalization near $1.75 billion, is more than twice the size of Primis Financial ($4.0 billion in assets, approximately $393 million market cap). This scale advantage translates into operational efficiencies — Byline's efficiency ratio of 50.3% substantially outperforms Primis's proforma ratio of approximately 77%, meaning Byline spends far less to generate each dollar of revenue. Additionally, Byline's NIM of 4.35% exceeds Primis's proforma NIM of roughly 3.46%, reflecting a more profitable lending and deposit franchise.

On the growth and turnaround dimension, however, Primis presents a different calculus. The company's sale-leaseback transaction, securities portfolio restructuring, and subordinated debt paydown created a step-change improvement in its balance sheet that may not yet be fully reflected in its valuation — the stock trades at just 0.88 times book value and a trailing P/E of roughly 7.1, compared to Byline's P/E of approximately 11.7. Primis's dividend yield of roughly 2.45% is also notably higher than Byline's 1.45%, though this reflects different capital-return philosophies and sustainability profiles. Risk factors warrant careful consideration: Primis's capital ratios, while improving, remain lower than Byline's, and its recent earnings have been influenced by non-recurring items. Byline, by contrast, must navigate the regulatory transition that accompanies crossing the $10 billion asset threshold — a process that typically increases compliance costs. Both stocks carry low beta values (BY: 0.72, FRST: 0.71), indicating below-market volatility relative to broader equity indices.

Tickeron AI Verdict

Based on observable trend consistency, profitability durability, and capital strength, Tickeron's AI-driven analytical framework would likely assign a higher relative confidence score to Byline Bancorp (BY) in the current environment. The stock's sustained upward trajectory, supported by thirteen consecutive quarters of pre-tax pre-provision return on average assets (ROAA) above 2.00%, a net interest margin that has expanded consistently, and a cleaner earnings profile with fewer one-time adjustments, creates a more statistically reliable trend pattern for algorithmic models to evaluate. Primis Financial's restructuring narrative is compelling and may offer greater upside potential for value-oriented investors, but the higher proportion of non-recurring gains in recent results and historically lower capital ratios introduce additional variables that AI models typically weigh as risk factors. Traders interested in how machine-learning systems interpret these dynamics in real time can explore the full range of AI trading bots on Tickeron's Trending AI Robots page, where strategies dynamically adapt to evolving market conditions across both tickers.

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