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 Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System or Inc. 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 Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc.

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking, trust, and investment services to retail, commercial, and small business customers in the United States. The company offers deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides commercial and industrial products, such as asset based lending portfolio; commercial real estate and construction; small business, residential real estate, and home equity loans; lines of credit; and other consumer loans comprising unsecured personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, automobile loans, home improvement loans, airplane loans, and other personal loans. In addition, the company offers wealth management and trust services, financial planning, and portfolio management; and automated lock box collection, cash management, and account reconciliation services. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Columbia Banking System, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Columbia 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, insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions, and certificates of deposit. 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, permanent financing, small business administration program financing, and capital markets services. In addition, the company offers wealth management, comprising financial planning, investment, trust, insurance, and private banking solutions, as well as 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, foreign exchange, trade and supply chain finance, international banking related products, and merchant services. Further, it provides residential real estate loans and consumer loans. The company serves corporate, institutional, small business, and individual customers in the United States. Columbia Banking System, Inc. was founded in 1953 and is based in Tacoma, Washington.

Latest Banks and Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System, Inc. Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, Eastern Bankshares, Inc. had a $4.7 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $730.8 million. Eastern Bankshares, Inc.’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 25.66% in the past year.

Currently, Eastern Bankshares, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.3. Eastern Bankshares, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.1 billion with a 34.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 27.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.872 per share for the current fiscal year. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. currently has a 2.8% dividend yield.

Currently, Columbia Banking System, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 11.5. Columbia Banking System, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.5 billion with a 28.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 35.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.029 per share for the current fiscal year. Columbia Banking System, Inc. currently has a 5.0% dividend yield.

How We Compare Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc. 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 Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Eastern Bankshares, Inc.	EBC	C
Columbia Banking System, Inc.	COLB	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.

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a Value Score of 49, which is Average. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a Value Score of 59, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System or Inc. 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 Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Eastern Bankshares, Inc.	EBC	B
Columbia Banking System, Inc.	COLB	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.

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a Growth Score of 82, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Columbia Banking System, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Eastern Bankshares, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Columbia Banking System, Inc. 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.

Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Eastern Bankshares, Inc.	EBC	D
Columbia Banking System, Inc.	COLB	C

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.

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 38, which is Negative. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 53, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System or Inc. has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade that could be considered a “winner.” Investors 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 Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc. Grades

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

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite 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 F-Score.

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 Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Eastern Bankshares, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 49, Growth Score of 73 and Estimate Revisions Score of 38.

Columbia Banking System, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 59, Growth Score of 82 and Estimate Revisions Score of 53.

Comparing Eastern Bankshares, Inc., Columbia Banking System and Inc.’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.