Which Is a Better Investment, Columbia Financial Inc or Renasant Corp Stock? (2023)

Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Columbia Financial Inc or Renasant Corp because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Columbia Financial Inc and Renasant Corp compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

Columbia Financial, Inc. is the holding company of Columbia Bank and Freehold Bank, each of which is a federally chartered stock savings bank. The Company offers traditional financial services to businesses and consumers in its market areas. Through Columbia Bank and Freehold Bank, the Company serves the financial needs of its depositors and the local community as community-minded, customer service-focused institutions. It offers traditional financial services to businesses and consumers in its market areas. The Company attracts deposits from the general public and use those funds to originate a variety of loans, including multifamily and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, one-to four-family real estate loans, construction loans, home equity loans and advances, and other consumer loans. The Company offers title insurance through its subsidiary, First Jersey Title Services, Inc. Wealth management services are offered through a third-party relationship.

Renasant Corporation owns and operates Renasant Bank (the Bank), which operates in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Company has three segments. Its Wealth Management segment operates through two divisions: Trust and Financial Services. The Trust division, which is housed in the Bank’s trust department, offers a variety of fiduciary and custodial services. The Financial Services division, which operates through Park Place Capital, offers specialized products and services to its customers. Insurance segment is a full-service insurance agency offering all lines of commercial and personal insurance through many carriers. The Community Banks segment delivers a complete range of banking and financial services to individuals and small to medium-size businesses, including checking and savings accounts, business and personal loans, asset-based lending and equipment leasing, as well as safe deposit and night depository facilities.

As of February 3, 2023, Columbia Financial Inc had a $2.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $373.1 million. Columbia Financial Inc’s stock is NA in 2023, NA in the previous five trading days and down 2.58% in the past year.

Currently, Columbia Financial Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 25.6. Columbia Financial Inc’s trailing 12-month revenue is $309.7 million with a 28.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 20.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $0.765 per share for the current fiscal year. Columbia Financial Inc does not currently pay a dividend.

Currently, Renasant Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 12.9. Renasant Corp’s trailing 12-month revenue is $541.8 million with a 27.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 25.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.439 per share for the current fiscal year. Renasant Corp currently has a 2.3% dividend yield.

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Columbia Financial Inc and Renasant Corp’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Columbia Financial Inc has a Quality Score of 55, which is Average. Renasant Corp has a Quality Score of 74, which is Strong.

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Columbia Financial Inc has a Momentum Score of 42, which is Average. Renasant Corp has a Momentum Score of 56, which is Average.

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Columbia Financial Inc has a Earnings Estimate Score of 25, which is Negative. Renasant Corp has a Earnings Estimate Score of 41, which is Neutral.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Columbia Financial Inc and Renasant Corp pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

Overall, Columbia Financial Inc stock has a Momentum Score of 42, Estimate Revisions Score of 25 and Quality Score of 55.

Renasant Corp stock has a Momentum Score of 56, Estimate Revisions Score of 41 and Quality Score of 74.

Comparing Columbia Financial Inc and Renasant Corp’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.