Chain Bridge Bancorp (NYSE:CBNA) versus Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Critical Review

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.9% of Chain Bridge Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern Bankshares	4.97%	8.04%	1.15%
Chain Bridge Bancorp	32.83%	12.35%	1.22%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Eastern Bankshares and Chain Bridge Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	1	0	3	0	2.50
Chain Bridge Bancorp	1	3	0	1	2.20

Eastern Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $21.50, suggesting a potential upside of 23.56%. Chain Bridge Bancorp has a consensus target price of $30.67, suggesting a potential upside of 3.41%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Chain Bridge Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Chain Bridge Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern Bankshares	$1.09 billion	3.38	$119.56 million	$0.25	69.60
Chain Bridge Bancorp	$56.65 million	3.43	$20.95 million	$2.86	10.37

Eastern Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Chain Bridge Bancorp. Chain Bridge 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.

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 Chain Bridge Bancorp

Chain Bridge Bancorp, Inc. operates as a Delaware-chartered bank holding company for Chain Bridge Bank, National Association that provides commercial and personal banking, and trust services in the United States. Its deposit products include non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market accounts. The company’s loan portfolio comprises of residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, and consumer loans. It also provides treasury management, payments, trusts and estate administration, wealth management, and asset custody services. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.