Which Is a Better Investment, Glacier Bancorp, Inc. or Northwest Bancshares, Inc. Stock?

By Omar Beirat
May 01, 2026
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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 Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp 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 Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Northwest Bank, a state-chartered savings bank that provides personal and commercial banking solutions in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Indiana in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, including checking, savings, money market deposit, term certificate, and individual retirement accounts. It also offers loan products comprising one-to-four-family residential real estate loans, shorter-term consumer loans, and loans collateralized by multi-family residential and commercial real estate, as well as commercial business loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans and lines of credit; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans and financing solutions; and other consumer loans, including auto refinance loans, indirect automobile and recreational loans, unsecured personal loans, credit card loans, and loans secured by investment accounts. In addition, the company offers investment and cash management; estate and trust services; digital and online banking; certificates of deposit; credit cards; student and small business loans; private banking, planning, and investments; retirement plans; liquidity management for commercial checking and savings; treasury and wealth management; insurance; employee benefit plans; and financial planning services. It serves individuals, businesses, and charitable institutions. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1896 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. It offers retail banking; business banking and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. The company also accepts deposit products, including non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal, demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, it offers credit risk management, construction and permanent loans on residential real estate, consumer land or lot loans, unimproved land and land development loans, construction loans, commercial real estate loans, agricultural and consumer lending, home equity loans, and states and political subdivisions lending, as well as residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

Latest Banks and Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp, Inc. Stock News

As of April 30, 2026, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. had a $2.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $717.1 million. Northwest Bancshares, Inc.’s stock is up 16.4% in 2026, up 5.2% in the previous five trading days and up 10.38% in the past year.

Currently, Northwest Bancshares, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 15.0. Northwest Bancshares, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $599.1 million with a 21.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 25.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.361 per share for the current fiscal year. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. currently has a 5.8% dividend yield.

As of April 30, 2026, Glacier Bancorp, Inc. had a $6.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 72nd percentile of all stocks. Glacier Bancorp, Inc.’s stock is up 12.6% in 2026, up 1.8% in the previous five trading days and up 18.59% in the past year.

Currently, Glacier Bancorp, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 24.6. Glacier Bancorp, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $952.7 million with a 25.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 24.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.163 per share for the current fiscal year. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. currently has a 2.7% dividend yield.

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

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Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc. Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. NWBI B
Glacier Bancorp, Inc. GBCI B

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.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a Growth Score of 78, which is Strong. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc. have a grade of B. 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.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. NWBI F
Glacier Bancorp, Inc. GBCI 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.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a Quality Score of 5, which is Very Weak. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. has a Quality Score of 9, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp or Inc. 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 Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company Ticker Momentum
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. NWBI C
Glacier Bancorp, Inc. GBCI 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%.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 50, which is Average. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 49, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp or Inc. 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 Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

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Other Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp and Inc. Grades

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

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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).

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

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 78, Momentum Score of 50 and Quality Score of 5.

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 73, Momentum Score of 49 and Quality Score of 9.

Comparing Northwest Bancshares, Inc., Glacier Bancorp 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.

Learn More About A+ Investor

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.



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