Columbia Financial (CLBK) Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Do analysts recommend BUSE or CLBK?

First Busey presently has a consensus target price of $27.33, indicating a potential upside of 16.96%. Columbia Financial has a consensus target price of $16.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.17%. Given First Busey's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Columbia Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Columbia Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Which has higher earnings and valuation, BUSE or CLBK?

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than Columbia Financial. First Busey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbia Financial, 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
First Busey	$663.36M	3.14	$113.69M	$1.12	20.87
Columbia Financial	$489.17M	3.29	-$11.65M	$0.06	256.00

Which has more volatility and risk, BUSE or CLBK?

First Busey has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Financial has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to BUSE or CLBK?

In the previous week, First Busey had 2 more articles in the media than Columbia Financial. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for First Busey and 1 mentions for Columbia Financial. Columbia Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat First Busey's score of 0.03 indicating that Columbia Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Columbia Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is BUSE or CLBK more profitable?

First Busey has a net margin of 9.48% compared to Columbia Financial's net margin of 1.24%. First Busey's return on equity of 8.76% beat Columbia Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%
Columbia Financial	1.24%	3.58%	0.37%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BUSE or CLBK?

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.7% of Columbia Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Columbia Financial shares are owned by 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.

Summary

First Busey beats Columbia Financial on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.