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 Renasant Corporation or Merchants Bancorp 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 Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp

Renasant Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Renasant Bank that provides a range of financial, wealth management, and fiduciary services to retail and commercial customers. The company operates in two segments, Community Banks and Wealth Management. The Community Banks segment offers checking and savings accounts, business and personal loans, asset-based lending, and factoring equipment leasing services, as well as safe deposit and night depository facilities. It also provides commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; equipment financing and leasing; real estate–1-4 family mortgage; real estate–commercial mortgage; real estate–construction loans for the construction of single family residential properties, multi-family properties, and commercial projects; installment loans to individuals; and interim construction loans, as well as automated teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, call center, and treasury management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of wealth management and fiduciary services, including administration and management of trust accounts, such as personal and corporate benefit accounts, and custodial accounts, as well as accounting and money management for trust accounts. It also provides annuities, mutual funds, and other investment services through a third-party broker-dealer; administrative and compliance services; and qualified retirement plans, IRAs, employee benefit plans, personal trusts, and estates, as well as administrative and compliance services for certain mutual funds. The company was founded in 1904 and is based in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Merchants Bancorp operates as the diversified bank holding company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Multi-family Mortgage Banking, Mortgage Warehousing, and Banking. The Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment engages in the mortgage banking, which originates, and services government sponsored mortgages, including bridge financing products to refinance, acquire, or reposition multi-family housing projects, and construction lending for housing development and healthcare facilities financing. This segment also offers customized loan products for need-based skilled nursing facilities, such as independent living, assisted living, and memory care; and tax credit equity syndicator service. The Mortgage Warehousing segment funds agency eligible residential loans, as well as commercial loans to non-depository financial institutions. The Banking segment offers a range of financial products and services to consumers and businesses, which includes retail banking, commercial lending, agricultural lending, retail and correspondent residential mortgage banking, and small business administration lending. Merchants Bancorp was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

Latest Banks and Renasant Corporation, Merchants Bancorp Stock News

As of July 31, 2026, Renasant Corporation had a $4.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $716.9 million. Renasant Corporation’s stock is up 23.7% in 2026, up 0.2% in the previous five trading days and up 17.09% in the past year.

Currently, Renasant Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 18.2. Renasant Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $978.3 million with a 29.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 60.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.784 per share for the current fiscal year. Renasant Corporation currently has a 2.2% dividend yield.

As of July 31, 2026, Merchants Bancorp had a $2.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 57th percentile of all stocks. Merchants Bancorp’s stock is up 62% in 2026, up 15.7% in the previous five trading days and up 77.71% in the past year.

Currently, Merchants Bancorp’s price-earnings ratio is 13.5. Merchants Bancorp’s trailing 12-month revenue is $585.5 million with a 42.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 15.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.443 per share for the current fiscal year. Merchants Bancorp currently has a 0.8% dividend yield.

How We Compare Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp Stock Grades

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 Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Renasant Corporation	RNST	D
Merchants Bancorp	MBIN	C

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Renasant Corporation has a Value Score of 37, which is Expensive. Merchants Bancorp has a Value Score of 56, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Renasant Corporation or Merchants Bancorp has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Renasant Corporation or Merchants Bancorp is the better investment when it comes to value.

Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Renasant Corporation	RNST	F
Merchants Bancorp	MBIN	F

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.

Renasant Corporation has a Quality Score of 2, which is Very Weak. Merchants Bancorp has a Quality Score of 8, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Renasant Corporation or Merchants Bancorp has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Renasant Corporation or Merchants Bancorp is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Renasant Corporation	RNST	B
Merchants Bancorp	MBIN	A

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.

Renasant Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 65, which is Positive. Merchants Bancorp has a Earnings Estimate Score of 82, which is Very Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Merchants Bancorp

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Merchants Bancorp has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Renasant Corporation. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Merchants Bancorp could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp Grades

In addition to Value, Quality and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help 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.

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.

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 Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Renasant Corporation or Merchants Bancorp Stock?

Overall, Renasant Corporation stock has a Value Score of 37, Estimate Revisions Score of 65 and Quality Score of 2.

Merchants Bancorp stock has a Value Score of 56, Estimate Revisions Score of 82 and Quality Score of 8.

Comparing Renasant Corporation and Merchants Bancorp’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.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.