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 First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation 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 First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation

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.

Wintrust Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides community-oriented, personal, and commercial banking services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest-bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine, online and mobile banking, and other services. This segment also engages in the retail origination of residential mortgages; provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations; and asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, it provides loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services, including data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry; other specialty finance services; equipment financing through structured loan and lease products; and property and casualty insurance premium financing. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management services, such as trust and investment, tax-deferred like-kind exchange, asset management, and securities brokerage services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.

Latest Banks and First Financial Bancorp., Wintrust Financial Corporation Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, First Financial Bancorp. had a $3.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $730.8 million. First Financial Bancorp.’s stock is up 30.6% in 2026, down 0.3% in the previous five trading days and up 20.92% in the past year.

Currently, First Financial Bancorp.’s price-earnings ratio is 11.3. First Financial Bancorp.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $952.9 million with a 29.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 16.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.200 per share for the current fiscal year. First Financial Bancorp. currently has a 3.2% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, Wintrust Financial Corporation had a $10.0 billion market cap, putting it in the 78th percentile of all stocks. Wintrust Financial Corporation’s stock is up 8.9% in 2026, down 0.6% in the previous five trading days and up 8.34% in the past year.

Currently, Wintrust Financial Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 11.9. Wintrust Financial Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.8 billion with a 32.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $13.098 per share for the current fiscal year. Wintrust Financial Corporation currently has a 1.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation 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 First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
First Financial Bancorp.	FFBC	F
Wintrust Financial Corporation	WTFC	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.

First Financial Bancorp. has a Quality Score of 9, which is Very Weak. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a Quality Score of 17, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation 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 First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation is the better investment when it comes to quality.

First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
First Financial Bancorp.	FFBC	C
Wintrust Financial Corporation	WTFC	C

Momentum grades help to 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. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

First Financial Bancorp. has a Momentum Score of 60, which is Average. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a Momentum Score of 45, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation has a strong enough Momentum Grade to 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 First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
First Financial Bancorp.	FFBC	C
Wintrust Financial Corporation	WTFC	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.

First Financial Bancorp. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 41, which is Neutral. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 55, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation 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 First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation Grades

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

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.

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.

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

So, Which Is the Better Investment, First Financial Bancorp. or Wintrust Financial Corporation Stock?

Overall, First Financial Bancorp. stock has a Momentum Score of 60, Estimate Revisions Score of 41 and Quality Score of 9.

Wintrust Financial Corporation stock has a Momentum Score of 45, Estimate Revisions Score of 55 and Quality Score of 17.

Comparing First Financial Bancorp. and Wintrust Financial Corporation’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.