Bull's Eye Report: First Financial Bankshares (FFIN)

At StateoftheMarkets.com, we strive to “own the best and ignore the rest” in our equity portfolios. Toward this end, each day we search our database for a “top stock” (a top rated company in terms of earnings strength as well as company and industry performance) that presents a strong technical “set up” and a good entry point.

In short, when our equity team is looking to add a stock to one of our portfolios, the “bull’s eye” stock shown below is generally their first choice.

Company	Symbol	Industry	Stock Rating	YTD% Gain	S.T. Stop Loss
First Financial Bankshares	FFIN	Regional Banks	7.0	+49.62%	$56.74

Why We Like The Stock:

First Financial Bankshares (FFIN) is our most compelling buy today due to the fact that it is a top-rated stock (in terms of earnings strength and company/industry performance) with a strong technical set-up. We like FFIN today for two reasons:

1) It has formed a nice, long base through September around $57, and is currently trending higher.

2) Earlier this week, the stock flashed a heavy insider buying signal. This means that corporate insiders are buying FFIN, and when people in the know are buying their own stock, it’s usually for a good reason.

Just take a look at charts that have flashed heavy insider buying signals in the past to see why we like this signal so much — Tyler Technologies (TYL), Green Dot Corp. (GDOT), and more recently, Geospace Technologies (GEOS). As long as FFIN can hold its support of the $57-ish area, we would take a shot here as there is a good chance FFIN moves higher in the short-term.

We Would Be Buyers:

At the current price (~$58.85).

Company Profile:

First Financial Bankshares, Inc. is a financial holding company. Through the Company’s subsidiary banks, it conducts a full-service commercial banking business. Its banking centers are located in Central, North Central and West Texas. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 55 financial centers across Texas, with eleven locations in Abilene, two locations in Cleburne, two locations in Stephenville, two locations in Granbury, two locations in San Angelo, three locations in Weatherford, and one location each in Mineral Wells, Hereford, Sweetwater, Eastland, Ranger, Rising Star, Cisco, Southlake, Aledo, Willow Park, Brock, Alvarado, Burleson, Crowley, Merkel, Clyde, Moran, Albany, Midlothian, Glen Rose, Acton, Odessa, Fort Worth and Huntsville, all in Texas. In June 2013, First Financial Bankshares Inc completed the acquisition of Orange Savings Bank, SSB in Orange, Texas, expanding First Financial’s banking operations into a 12th Texas region.

Stock Rating: 7.0

The Stock Rating indicates the combined score of our proprietary Earning Strength and Company Performance models. The rating scale is 0 – 10 with 10 being the highest.