First Commonwealth Financial (FCF) Competitors

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) and First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, community ranking, media sentiment and dividends.

Is COLB or FCF more profitable?

First Commonwealth Financial has a net margin of 21.87% compared to Columbia Banking System's net margin of 16.15%. First Commonwealth Financial's return on equity of 11.19% beat Columbia Banking System's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Banking System	16.15%	10.13%	0.98%
First Commonwealth Financial	21.87%	11.19%	1.30%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of COLB or FCF?

92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.6% of First Commonwealth Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Commonwealth Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, COLB or FCF?

Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Commonwealth Financial has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor COLB or FCF?

First Commonwealth Financial received 15 more outperform votes than Columbia Banking System when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.40% of users gave First Commonwealth Financial an outperform vote while only 42.54% of users gave Columbia Banking System an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Columbia Banking System	Outperform Votes 268 42.54%	Underperform Votes 362 57.46%
First Commonwealth Financial	Outperform Votes 283 53.40%	Underperform Votes 247 46.60%

Do analysts rate COLB or FCF?

Columbia Banking System currently has a consensus price target of $29.31, indicating a potential upside of 2.55%. First Commonwealth Financial has a consensus price target of $17.70, indicating a potential upside of 7.03%. Given First Commonwealth Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Commonwealth Financial is more favorable than Columbia Banking System.

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
First Commonwealth Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is COLB or FCF a better dividend stock?

Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. First Commonwealth Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Columbia Banking System pays out 62.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Commonwealth Financial pays out 35.1% 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.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, COLB or FCF?

Columbia Banking System has higher revenue and earnings than First Commonwealth Financial. First Commonwealth Financial 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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Banking System	$2.74B	2.18	$348.71M	$2.31	12.37
First Commonwealth Financial	$626.61M	2.69	$157.06M	$1.48	11.17

Does the media refer more to COLB or FCF?

In the previous week, First Commonwealth Financial had 4 more articles in the media than Columbia Banking System. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First Commonwealth Financial and 3 mentions for Columbia Banking System. First Commonwealth Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat Columbia Banking System's score of 0.33 indicating that First Commonwealth Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbia Banking System	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Commonwealth Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

First Commonwealth Financial beats Columbia Banking System on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.