Reviewing Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) & Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Eastern Bankshares and Catalyst Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	0	1	1	0	2.50
Catalyst Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Eastern Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $18.75, suggesting a potential upside of 15.81%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Catalyst Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Catalyst Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern Bankshares	$623.53 million	4.59	$232.18 million	$2.85	5.68
Catalyst Bancorp	$4.47 million	11.56	$600,000.00	($1.02)	-11.17

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

Profitability

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Catalyst Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern Bankshares	48.38%	5.06%	0.68%
Catalyst Bancorp	5.35%	-4.45%	-1.32%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are held by 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.

Risk & Volatility

Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.12, meaning that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Eastern Bankshares beats Catalyst Bancorp on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Catalyst Bancorp

Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Catalyst Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and businesses in Louisiana. The company accepts various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand and NOW accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also offers single family residential first mortgage loans, commercial real estate mortgage loans, multi-family residential mortgage loans, commercial and industrial loans, construction and land loans, consumer loans, and other loans. In addition, the company invests in various types of securities comprising mortgage-backed securities, the U.S. treasury obligations, securities of various federal agencies and of state and municipal governments, certificates of deposit at federally insured banks and savings institutions, and federal funds. Catalyst Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Opelousas, Louisiana.