Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) and Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Financial Review

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

Profitability

This table compares Lazard and Columbia Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lazard	10.15%	37.64%	5.18%
Columbia Financial	-0.32%	2.96%	0.30%

Volatility & Risk

Lazard has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Financial has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.8% of Lazard shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.7% of Columbia Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Lazard shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Columbia Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Lazard and Columbia Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lazard	2	4	1	0	1.86
Columbia Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Lazard presently has a consensus target price of $46.33, suggesting a potential downside of 8.01%. Columbia Financial has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.88%. Given Columbia Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Columbia Financial is more favorable than Lazard.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lazard and Columbia Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lazard	$3.05 billion	1.86	$279.91 million	$2.87	17.55
Columbia Financial	$189.02 million	8.47	-$11.65 million	($0.02)	-762.75

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

Summary

Lazard beats Columbia Financial on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services. This segment offers its services to corporate, partnership, institutional, government, sovereign, and individual clients to various industry areas, including consumers, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, power and energy/infrastructure, real estate, technology, telecommunication, and media and entertainment. The Asset Management segment offers a range of investment solutions; investment and wealth management services in equity and fixed income strategies; asset allocation strategies; and alternative investments and private equity funds to corporations, public funds, sovereign entities, endowments and foundations, labor funds, financial intermediaries, and private clients. Lazard, Inc. was incorporated in 1848 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc., a bank holding company, provides various financial services to businesses and consumers in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, interest-earning checking products and municipal, savings and club deposits, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides various loans, including multifamily and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, one-to-four family residential loans, construction loans, home equity loans and advances, and other consumer loans, such as automobiles and personal loans, as well as unsecured and overdraft lines of credit. In addition, it offers title insurance products; wealth management services; and cash management services comprising remote deposit, lockbox service, sweep accounts, and escrow services. The company operates full-service banking offices in New Jersey; and branch offices in Freehold, New Jersey. Columbia Financial, Inc. was founded in 1926 and is based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Columbia Financial, Inc. is a subsidiary of Columbia Bank MHC.