Commerce Bancshares (CBSH) Competitors

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, CBSH or FFBC?

Commerce Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Commerce Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Commerce Bancshares	$2.09B	3.79	$526.33M	$4.20	14.08
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.62B	1.51	$228.83M	$2.50	10.25

Is CBSH or FFBC more profitable?

Commerce Bancshares has a net margin of 26.37% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 19.41%. Commerce Bancshares' return on equity of 16.01% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Commerce Bancshares	26.37%	16.01%	1.74%
First Financial Bancorp.	19.41%	10.57%	1.42%

Is CBSH or FFBC a better dividend stock?

Commerce Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Commerce Bancshares pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Commerce Bancshares has increased its dividend for 58 consecutive years and First Financial Bancorp. has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CBSH or FFBC?

70.3% of Commerce Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Commerce Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor CBSH or FFBC?

In the previous week, Commerce Bancshares had 16 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Commerce Bancshares and 7 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Commerce Bancshares' score of 0.72 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Commerce Bancshares	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Financial Bancorp.	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, CBSH or FFBC?

Commerce Bancshares has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer CBSH or FFBC?

Commerce Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $68.20, suggesting a potential upside of 15.30%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $29.40, suggesting a potential upside of 14.78%. Given Commerce Bancshares' higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Commerce Bancshares is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commerce Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Summary

Commerce Bancshares beats First Financial Bancorp. on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.