Which Is a Better Investment, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. or Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida Stock?

By Tudor Pop
August 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 Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares 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 Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida operates as the bank holding company for Seacoast National Bank that provides integrated financial services to retail and commercial customers in Florida. The company offers noninterest and interest-bearing demand deposits, money market, savings, and customer sweep accounts; time deposits; construction and land development, commercial and residential real estate, and commercial and financial loans; and consumer loans, including installment and revolving lines, as well as loans for automobiles, boats, and personal and family purposes. It also provides wealth management, mortgage, and insurance services through mobile and online banking solutions, as well as brokerage and annuity services. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Stuart, Florida.

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.

Latest Banks and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. Stock News

As of July 31, 2026, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida had a $3.3 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $716.9 million. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s stock is up 10.6% in 2026, up 3.7% in the previous five trading days and up 23.1% in the past year.

Currently, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s price-earnings ratio is 23.3. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s trailing 12-month revenue is $630.0 million with a 23.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 24.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.535 per share for the current fiscal year. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida currently has a 2.2% dividend yield.

As of July 31, 2026, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. had a $2.3 billion market cap, putting it in the 56th percentile of all stocks. Northwest Bancshares, Inc.’s stock is up 31.2% in 2026, up 2.2% in the previous five trading days and up 31.28% in the past year.

Currently, Northwest Bancshares, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 16.8. Northwest Bancshares, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $621.5 million with a 23.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 15.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.420 per share for the current fiscal year. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. currently has a 5.1% dividend yield.

How We Compare Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares 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 Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida SBCF D
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. NWBI 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.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a Value Score of 31, which is Expensive. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a Value Score of 41, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares 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 Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida SBCF F
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. NWBI 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.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a Quality Score of 3, which is Very Weak. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a Quality Score of 3, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares 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 Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company Ticker Earnings Estimate
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida SBCF C
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. NWBI B

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.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a Earnings Estimate Score of 57, which is Neutral. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 79, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Northwest Bancshares, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. 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.

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Other Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc. Grades

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

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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 Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida stock has a Value Score of 31, Estimate Revisions Score of 57 and Quality Score of 3.

Northwest Bancshares, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 41, Estimate Revisions Score of 79 and Quality Score of 3.

Comparing Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Northwest Bancshares 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.

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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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