Contrasting Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Central Plains Bancshares (NASDAQ:CPBI)

Central Plains Bancshares (NASDAQ:CPBI) and Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Central Plains Bancshares and Eastern Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Plains Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Eastern Bankshares	0	1	1	0	2.50

Eastern Bankshares has a consensus target price of $20.25, suggesting a potential upside of 18.77%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Central Plains Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Central Plains Bancshares and Eastern Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Plains Bancshares	13.97%	4.63%	0.78%
Eastern Bankshares	11.07%	6.02%	0.85%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Central Plains Bancshares and Eastern Bankshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Plains Bancshares	$1.26 million	50.13	$3.76 million	N/A	N/A
Eastern Bankshares	$731.51 million	5.00	$119.56 million	$0.67	25.45

Eastern Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Central Plains Bancshares.

Risk and Volatility

Central Plains Bancshares has a beta of 0.06, indicating that its share price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.3% of Central Plains Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Central Plains Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Eastern Bankshares beats Central Plains Bancshares on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Central Plains Bancshares

Central Plains Bancshares, Inc. focuses on providing various banking products and services to retail customers, and small and medium-sized commercial customers in Nebraska, the United States. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, and certificate of deposit accounts. The company also provides one- to four-family residential mortgage loans secured by properties, as well as commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial loans, multi-family residential real estate loans, construction and land development loans, agricultural real estate and non-real estate loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it offers electronic banking services, including mobile banking, on-line banking and bill pay, and electronic funds transfer. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is based in Grand Island, Nebraska.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts. It also offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and construction, small business, residential real estate, and home equity loans; lines of credit; and other consumer loans comprising unsecured personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, automobile loans, home improvement loans, airplane loans, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides trust, financial planning and portfolio management, automated lock box collection, cash management, and account reconciliation services; personal, business, and employee benefits insurance products. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.