Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) and Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.
Risk and Volatility
Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Customers Bancorp has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Columbia Banking System and Customers Bancorp's revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Columbia Banking System | $627.13 million | 5.12 | $194.45 million | $2.68 | 16.74 |
Customers Bancorp | $544.68 million | 1.61 | $79.33 million | $2.25 | 12.31 |
Columbia Banking System has higher revenue and earnings than Customers Bancorp. Customers Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbia Banking System, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
90.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.4% of Customers Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Customers Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Columbia Banking System and Customers Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Columbia Banking System | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Customers Bancorp | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.00 |
Columbia Banking System currently has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential downside of 10.83%. Customers Bancorp has a consensus target price of $26.40, indicating a potential downside of 4.69%. Given Customers Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Customers Bancorp is more favorable than Columbia Banking System.
Profitability
This table compares Columbia Banking System and Customers Bancorp's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
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Columbia Banking System | 22.90% | 6.35% | 0.94% |
Customers Bancorp | 17.45% | 12.53% | 0.67% |
Summary
Columbia Banking System beats Customers Bancorp on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.