Head-To-Head Comparison: Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) & DNB Bank ASA (OTCMKTS:DNBBY)

DNB Bank ASA (OTCMKTS:DNBBY) and Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares DNB Bank ASA and Columbia Banking System”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DNB Bank ASA	$19.14 billion	2.62	$4.20 billion	$2.80	11.54
Columbia Banking System	$3.21 billion	2.55	$550.00 million	$2.51	11.52

DNB Bank ASA has higher revenue and earnings than Columbia Banking System. Columbia Banking System is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DNB Bank ASA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for DNB Bank ASA and Columbia Banking System, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DNB Bank ASA	2	4	2	0	2.00
Columbia Banking System	0	8	5	0	2.38

Columbia Banking System has a consensus target price of $33.42, suggesting a potential upside of 15.55%. Given Columbia Banking System’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Columbia Banking System is more favorable than DNB Bank ASA.

Dividends

DNB Bank ASA pays an annual dividend of $1.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. DNB Bank ASA pays out 50.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Banking System pays out 59.0% 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. Columbia Banking System is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

DNB Bank ASA has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Columbia Banking System 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.

Profitability

This table compares DNB Bank ASA and Columbia Banking System’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DNB Bank ASA	21.34%	13.97%	1.06%
Columbia Banking System	19.96%	11.33%	1.31%

Summary

DNB Bank ASA beats Columbia Banking System on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DNB Bank ASA

DNB Bank ASA provides financial services for individual and business customers in Norway and internationally. The company offers savings, current, and pension accounts; fixed rate and security deposits; home and cabin mortgages, car and consumer loans, business loans, and refinancing; car, house, home contents, travel, personal, and non-life insurance product; payment services; and online and mobile banking services, as well as cards. It also provides overdraft facilities; leasing services; factoring, supply chain, and receivable purchase financing services; bank guarantee, secure trading, documentary collection, and letter of credit services; investment banking services, such as mergers and acquisition, equity and debt capital market, shares and securities, mutual funds and trading, and bonds and commodities; and private financing, as well as equity trading, foreign exchange, interest rates, and risk advisory services. In addition, the company offers treasury management, working capital, trade finance, auto lease and equipment financing, and corporate finance services, as well as act as an estate agents. DNB Bank ASA was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc. operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions. It also provides commercial lending products, such as commercial lines of credit and term loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, international trade finance, commercial property loans, multifamily loans, equipment loans, commercial equipment leases, real estate construction loans and permanent financing, and small business administration program financing, as well as capital markets. In addition, the company offers wealth management comprising financial planning, investment, trust, and insurance; treasury management, which includes digital and mobile banking solutions, ACH, wires, positive pay, remote deposit capture, integrated payments, integrated receivables, lockbox, cash vault, real-time payments, commercial card, and foreign exchange and international banking related products, as well as merchant services; and brokerage services, residential real estate loans and consumer loans. It serves its products to corporate, institutional, small business, and individual customers. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.