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 Community Financial System, Inc. or KeyCorp 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 Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp

Community Financial System, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and governmental customers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, Insurance Services and Wealth Management Services. The Banking Segment offers lending and depository-related products and services; treasury management solutions and payment processing services, as well as certain corporate overhead-related expenses to individuals, businesses, and governmental units. The Employee Benefit Segment provides employee benefit trust, collective investment fund, retirement plan and health savings account administration, fund administration, transfer agency, actuarial, health and welfare consulting services and introducing broker-dealer services. The Insurance Services segment offers personal and commercial lines of insurance and other risk management products and services, as well as employee benefit related services. The Wealth Management Services provides wealth management, retirement planning, higher educational planning, fiduciary, risk management, trust services, and personal financial planning services. This segment also offers a range of investment products including stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, insurance, and advisory products. Community Financial System, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Syracuse, New York.

KeyCorp operates as the holding company for KeyBank National Association that provides various retail and commercial banking products and services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer Bank and Commercial Bank. The company offers various deposits and investment products; personal finance and financial wellness, lending, student loan refinancing, mortgage and home equity, credit card, treasury, and business advisory; commercial leasing, investment management, consumer finance; and wealth management and investment services for institutional, non-profit, and high-net-worth clients. It also provides lending, cash management, equipment financing, and commercial mortgage loans; and capital market products and services, such as syndicated finance, debt and equity underwriting, fixed income and equity sales and trading, derivatives, foreign exchange, mergers and acquisition, other advisory services, and public finance to large corporate and institutional clients. In addition, the company offers personal and institutional trust custody services, personal financial and planning services, access to mutual funds, treasury services, and international banking services. Further, it provides community development financing, securities underwriting, brokerage, and investment banking services, as well as merchant services. The company was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Latest Banks and Community Financial System, Inc., KeyCorp Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, Community Financial System, Inc. had a $3.3 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $730.8 million. Community Financial System, Inc.’s stock is up 9.7% in 2026, down 0.3% in the previous five trading days and up 3.42% in the past year.

Currently, Community Financial System, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 14.4. Community Financial System, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $838.2 million with a 27.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 12.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.585 per share for the current fiscal year. Community Financial System, Inc. currently has a 3.2% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, KeyCorp had a $22.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 87th percentile of all stocks. KeyCorp’s stock is up 5.6% in 2026, down 1.3% in the previous five trading days and up 9.56% in the past year.

Currently, KeyCorp’s price-earnings ratio is 12.4. KeyCorp’s trailing 12-month revenue is $7.4 billion with a 27.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.829 per share for the current fiscal year. KeyCorp currently has a 3.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp 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 Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Community Financial System, Inc.	CBU	C
KeyCorp	KEY	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.

Community Financial System, Inc. has a Value Score of 54, which is Average. KeyCorp has a Value Score of 52, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Community Financial System, Inc. or KeyCorp 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 Community Financial System, Inc. or KeyCorp is the better investment when it comes to value.

Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Community Financial System, Inc.	CBU	A
KeyCorp	KEY	C

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.

Community Financial System, Inc. has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong. KeyCorp has a Growth Score of 43, which is Average.

The Growth Grade Winner: Community Financial System, Inc.

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

Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Community Financial System, Inc.	CBU	D
KeyCorp	KEY	D

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.

Community Financial System, Inc. has a Quality Score of 26, which is Weak. KeyCorp has a Quality Score of 21, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Community Financial System, Inc. or KeyCorp 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 Community Financial System, Inc. or KeyCorp is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Other Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp 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 Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Community Financial System, Inc. or KeyCorp Stock?

Overall, Community Financial System, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 54, Growth Score of 95 and Quality Score of 26.

KeyCorp stock has a Value Score of 52, Growth Score of 43 and Quality Score of 21.

Comparing Community Financial System, Inc. and KeyCorp’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.