Columbia Banking System (COLB) Competitors

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) and Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Which has more volatility and risk, COLB or RF?

Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Regions Financial has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer COLB or RF?

Regions Financial received 670 more outperform votes than Columbia Banking System when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.69% of users gave Regions Financial an outperform vote while only 42.08% of users gave Columbia Banking System an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Columbia Banking System	Outperform Votes 271 42.08%	Underperform Votes 373 57.92%
Regions Financial	Outperform Votes 941 62.69%	Underperform Votes 560 37.31%

Is COLB or RF a better dividend stock?

Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Regions Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Columbia Banking System pays out 61.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Regions Financial pays out 48.1% 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. Columbia Banking System has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Regions Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in COLB or RF?

92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Regions Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Regions Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is COLB or RF more profitable?

Regions Financial has a net margin of 20.20% compared to Columbia Banking System's net margin of 17.99%. Regions Financial's return on equity of 12.83% beat Columbia Banking System's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Banking System	17.99%	11.21%	1.10%
Regions Financial	20.20%	12.83%	1.32%

Which has better valuation and earnings, COLB or RF?

Regions Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Columbia Banking System. Columbia Banking System is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Regions 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
Columbia Banking System	$1.95B	2.67	$533.67M	$2.36	10.49
Regions Financial	$7.12B	2.81	$1.89B	$2.08	10.69

Do analysts recommend COLB or RF?

Columbia Banking System currently has a consensus target price of $29.85, indicating a potential upside of 20.59%. Regions Financial has a consensus target price of $25.80, indicating a potential upside of 16.01%. Given Columbia Banking System's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Columbia Banking System is more favorable than Regions Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Banking System	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.31
Regions Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Does the media refer more to COLB or RF?

In the previous week, Regions Financial had 13 more articles in the media than Columbia Banking System. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Regions Financial and 14 mentions for Columbia Banking System. Regions Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Columbia Banking System's score of 1.00 indicating that Regions Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbia Banking System	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Regions Financial	22 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Regions Financial beats Columbia Banking System on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.