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what it is
Columbia Banking runs Umpqua Bank, making money by lending to businesses and consumers across the West.
how it gets paid
Last year Columbia Banking made $177M in revenue. commercial and industrial loans was the main engine at $51M, or 29% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 18.8% last year. In addition, a shift away from higher-cost wholesale funding toward lower-cost customer deposits further supported margin expansion.
what just happened
The last reported quarter missed expectations by 32.08%, with EPS of $0.72 versus a $1.06 estimate.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
70/100 earnings predictability — reasonably predictable
11.2x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
5.1% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
xvary composite: 51/100 — below average
What they do
Columbia Banking runs Umpqua Bank, making money by lending to businesses and consumers across the West.
The Umpqua deal turned Columbia into a bigger regional bank with about 5,100 employees and a broader customer base. You care because net interest margin (net interest margin → loan yield minus deposit cost → the bank's basic spread business) improved to 3.84% from 3.75% in one quarter. Bigger scale plus a wider spread is how a boring bank quietly gets more profitable.
How they make money
$177M
annual revenue · their business grew +18.8% last year
commercial and industrial loans
$51M
consumer and residential loans
$39M
commercial real estate loans
$35M
agricultural and construction loans
$28M
cards and banking fees
$24M
The products that matter
banking for businesses and communities
Commercial Banking
$0.2B revenue
it's effectively the disclosed revenue base on this page, and 4.2% growth tells you the story is stabilization and execution, not a hidden growth engine.
core line
Key numbers
$2.85
fy2026 eps est
$177M
fy rev est
SEC filings point to roughly $177M in annual sales.
11.2x
trailing p/e
5.1%
dividend yield
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 45 / 100
- net profit margin 26.5% — keeps 26 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 12% — $0.12 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in COLB 3 years ago → it's now worth $11,700.
The index would have given you $13,920.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
The last reported quarter missed expectations by 32.08%, with EPS of $0.72 versus a $1.06 estimate.
That miss clashes with the stronger quarterly history in the source data, where 2025 quarterly EPS ran $0.41, $0.73, $0.40, and $1.06. The cleaner signal is that adjusted third-quarter EPS still grew 23% vs. prior year to $0.85, while net interest margin improved to 3.84% from 3.75%.
$177M
ttm revenue
$0.72
last eps
26.5%
net margin
the number that mattered
The 32.08% earnings miss matters most because banks live on confidence, and confidence does not like surprises.
-
columbia banking system’s third-quarter bottom-line result needs some explanation.share earnings for the quarter slipped sharply to $0.40, versus $0.70 in the year-ago period, largely due to pacific premier acquisition-related costs rather than any deterioration in core banking fundamentals.
-
on an adjusted basis, per-share profit grew 23% vs. prior year, to $0.85.
-
that said, the net interest margin (nim) trend has been encouraging.
-
nim improved sequentially to 3.84% from 3.75%, supported by a full month of merged operations and lower interestbearing deposit costs.
-
in addition, a shift away from higher-cost wholesale funding toward lower-cost customer deposits further supported margin expansion.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
COLB's risk is not abstract. the page already shows a bank with a recent $0.40 quarter, a hoped-for rebound to $1.05, and a stock price above the street's $26 midpoint. that leaves less room for another wobble.
med
credit costs move from theory to reality
regional banks often look cheapest right before investors decide the loan book deserves more skepticism. with third-quarter EPS already down to $0.40 from $0.70, you do not have much room for a second problem.
if provisions rise on top of soft earnings, the stock can close the gap to the existing $26 midpoint fast.
med
rate pressure squeezes the spread business
banks borrow short and lend long. in plain english: if deposit costs stay stubborn while asset yields fall, margin gets pinched and the earnings rebound takes longer.
that matters more here because the page shows one disclosed banking revenue line. there is nowhere else to hide.
med
integration costs stop looking temporary
management says recent pressure tied back to Pacific Premier acquisition-related costs rather than core deterioration. fine. the market will tolerate that explanation once or twice, not forever.
if "one-time" charges keep showing up, the stock loses both multiple support and narrative support.
med
the dividend does not save the thesis by itself
a 5.1% yield gets attention. it does not erase weak earnings. if quarterly results stay closer to $0.40 than $1.05, investors stop treating the payout as comfort and start treating it as compensation for uncertainty.
that's how a "cheap income stock" turns into a stock that stays cheap for a reason.
if earnings stay closer to the recent $0.40 quarter than the expected $1.05 rebound, the 5.1% yield will not carry the stock on its own.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
the next earnings print
$1.05 EPS is the number on the table. you want recovery in the reported number, not another quarter explained away by adjustments.
risk
credit quality
this is the first thing that breaks a cheap-bank thesis. if credit costs rise, the low multiple is not protection. it's a warning label.
metric
reported growth vs. core growth
headline revenue grew 18.8%, but the core business line shown here grew 4.2%. that spread is the accounting version of read the footnotes.
trend
institutional flow
big money has been buying for three straight quarters. if that trend flips while fundamentals stay mixed, you should care.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
below average
momentum score 4 — in human-speak, analysts think this stock is more likely to lag than lead over the next stretch.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — typical risk profile for a regional bank, neither a bunker nor a roulette wheel.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — the chart is not giving you a dramatic signal either way.
earnings predictability
70 / 100
good enough to model, not clean enough to relax. expect some noise quarter to quarter.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 3 consecutive quarters — 340 buyers vs. 126 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.3B shares. net buying for 3 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$15
$37
$29
current price
$26
target midpoint · 11% from current · 3-5yr high: $40 (+35% · 12% ann'l return)
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