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 Commerce Bancshares, Inc. or First Financial 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 Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp.

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Commerce Bank that provides retail, mortgage banking, corporate, investment, trust, and asset management products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Commercial, and Wealth. The Retail Banking segment offers various banking products and services, including consumer deposits; consumer loans, such as automobile, motorcycle, marine, tractor/trailer, recreational vehicle, fixed rate and revolving home equity, and other consumer loans; patient health care financing; real estate loans; indirect and other consumer financing; retail branch network; personal mortgage banking; consumer installment lending; and consumer debit and credit bank cards. The Commercial segment provides corporate lending, leasing, international, merchant and commercial bank card, and securities safekeeping and bond accounting services; and business products, government deposits, and related commercial cash management services, as well as sells fixed income securities to correspondent banks, corporations, public institutions, municipalities, and individuals. The Wealth segment provides traditional trust and estate planning, advisory and discretionary investment portfolio management, and brokerage services, as well as private banking accounts. The company offers private equity investment, securities brokerage, insurance agency, specialty lending, and leasing services, as well as online and mobile banking services. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.

First Financial Bancorp. operates as the bank holding company for First Financial Bank that provides commercial banking and banking-related services to individuals and businesses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. The company offers checking and savings accounts; and accepts various deposit products, such as interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for retail and commercial customers. It also provides real estate loans secured by residential property, such as one to four family residential housing units or commercial property comprising owner-occupied and/or investor income producing real estate consisting of apartments, shopping centers, and office buildings; commercial and industrial loans for various purposes, including inventory, receivables, and equipment, as well as equipment and leasehold improvement financing for franchisees; consumer loans, such as new and used vehicle loans, second mortgages on residential real estate and unsecured loans; and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company offers secured commercial financing services to the insurance industry, registered investment advisors, certified public accountants, indirect auto finance companies, and restaurant franchisees. Further, it provides a range of trust and wealth management services, lease and equipment financing services, currency payments, foreign exchange hedging, commodities hedging, and other advisory products. First Financial Bancorp. was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Latest Banks and Commerce Bancshares, Inc., First Financial Bancorp. Stock News

As of May 1, 2026, Commerce Bancshares, Inc. had a $7.6 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $726.8 million. Commerce Bancshares, Inc.’s stock is down 0.6% in 2026, up 2.8% in the previous five trading days and down 10.06% in the past year.

Currently, Commerce Bancshares, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.9. Commerce Bancshares, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.7 billion with a 32.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.133 per share for the current fiscal year. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

As of May 1, 2026, First Financial Bancorp. had a $3.2 billion market cap, putting it in the 61st percentile of all stocks. First Financial Bancorp.’s stock is up 21.5% in 2026, down 0.6% in the previous five trading days and up 31.36% in the past year.

Currently, First Financial Bancorp.’s price-earnings ratio is 11.4. First Financial Bancorp.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $855.3 million with a 30.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 21.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.276 per share for the current fiscal year. First Financial Bancorp. currently has a 3.3% dividend yield.

How We Compare Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial 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 Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Commerce Bancshares, Inc.	CBSH	C
First Financial Bancorp.	FFBC	B

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.

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a Value Score of 60, which is Average. First Financial Bancorp. has a Value Score of 71, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: First Financial Bancorp.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, First Financial Bancorp. is considered to have better value than Commerce Bancshares, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, First Financial Bancorp. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Commerce Bancshares, Inc.	CBSH	A
First Financial Bancorp.	FFBC	A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong. First Financial Bancorp. has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp. have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Commerce Bancshares, Inc.	CBSH	D
First Financial Bancorp.	FFBC	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.

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. has a Quality Score of 30, which is Weak. First Financial Bancorp. has a Quality Score of 10, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Commerce Bancshares, Inc. or First Financial 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 Commerce Bancshares, Inc. or First Financial Bancorp. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Other Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp. Grades

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

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.

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

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 Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial Bancorp. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Commerce Bancshares, Inc. or First Financial Bancorp. Stock?

Overall, Commerce Bancshares, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 60, Growth Score of 95 and Quality Score of 30.

First Financial Bancorp. stock has a Value Score of 71, Growth Score of 95 and Quality Score of 10.

Comparing Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and First Financial 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.