Critical Review: Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) & CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB)

CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

CrossFirst Bankshares has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for CrossFirst Bankshares and Associated Banc, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CrossFirst Bankshares	0	0	4	0	3.00
Associated Banc	0	9	1	0	2.10

CrossFirst Bankshares currently has a consensus price target of $18.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.25%. Associated Banc has a consensus price target of $25.89, suggesting a potential upside of 0.11%. Given CrossFirst Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe CrossFirst Bankshares is more favorable than Associated Banc.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CrossFirst Bankshares and Associated Banc”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CrossFirst Bankshares	$254.34 million	3.31	$66.67 million	$1.47	11.63
Associated Banc	$1.09 billion	3.59	$182.96 million	$1.20	21.55

Associated Banc has higher revenue and earnings than CrossFirst Bankshares. CrossFirst Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Associated Banc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.3% of CrossFirst Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are held by institutional investors. 9.3% of CrossFirst Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Associated Banc shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares CrossFirst Bankshares and Associated Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CrossFirst Bankshares	14.52%	10.72%	1.04%
Associated Banc	8.15%	8.18%	0.80%

Summary

CrossFirst Bankshares beats Associated Banc on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CrossFirst Bankshares

CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for CrossFirst Bank that provides various banking and financial services to businesses, business owners, professionals, and its personal networks. The company offers commercial and industrial loans, including enterprise value lending; commercial real estate loans; construction and development loans, such as home builder lending; residential real estate, multifamily real estate, energy, SBA, and consumer loans; and credit cards. It also provides deposit banking products, including personal and business checking and savings accounts; treasury management services; money market accounts; certificates of deposits; negotiable order of withdrawal accounts; automated teller machine access; and mobile banking and international banking services, as well as non-interest-bearing demand deposits and interest-bearing deposits, including transaction accounts. In addition, the company acquires brokered deposits, internet subscription certificates of deposit, and reciprocal deposits. Further, it holds investments in marketable securities. The company serves its clients though branch network, as well as digital banking products. It has full-service banking offices in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.

About Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.