Contrasting Catalyst Bancorp (NASDAQ:CLST) and Regions Financial (NYSE:RF)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Regions Financial and Catalyst Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Regions Financial	3	7	6	0	2.19
Catalyst Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Regions Financial currently has a consensus target price of $29.27, indicating a potential downside of 1.14%. Given Regions Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Regions Financial is more favorable than Catalyst Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

Regions Financial has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Bancorp has a beta of 0.18, indicating that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Regions Financial	22.44%	12.55%	1.37%
Catalyst Bancorp	13.26%	2.53%	0.74%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.4% of Regions Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.1% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Regions Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Catalyst Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Regions Financial and Catalyst Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Regions Financial	$9.61 billion	2.70	$2.16 billion	$2.29	12.93
Catalyst Bancorp	$23.69 million	2.70	$2.05 million	$0.56	27.77

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

Summary

Regions Financial beats Catalyst Bancorp on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. It also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

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.