Which Is a Better Investment, Provident Financial Services, Inc. or Trustmark Corp Stock? (2024)

Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Trustmark Corp, Provident Financial Services or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Trustmark Corp, Provident Financial Services and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

Trustmark Corporation is a bank holding company. The Company's principal subsidiary is Trustmark National Bank (TNB). Through TNB and its subsidiaries, the Company operates as a financial services company providing banking and other financial solutions. The Company operates through three segments: General Banking, Wealth Management and Insurance. The General Banking Segment is responsible for all traditional banking products and services, including loans and deposits. The Wealth Management Segment provides customized solutions for customers by integrating financial services with traditional banking products and services, such as money management, full-service brokerage, financial planning, personal and institutional trust and retirement services. Through Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. (FBBI), a subsidiary of TNB, the Insurance Segment provides a range of retail insurance products, including commercial risk management products, bonding, group benefits and personal lines coverage.

Provident Financial Services, Inc. is a holding company for The Provident Bank (the Bank). The Bank is a community-oriented financial institution that provides an array of financial products and business and retail services through its network of branches throughout northern and central New Jersey, Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania, as well as Orange, Queens and Nassau Counties in New York. Its business services include commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate loans, loans for healthcare services, asset-based lending, equipment financing, small business loans, and lines and cash management services. Its consumer services include online and mobile banking, home equity loans and lines, and mortgage options. It also provides fiduciary and wealth management services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Beacon Trust Company, and insurance brokerage services through its subsidiary, Provident Protection Plus, Inc. It operates over 140 branches.

As of August 12, 2024, Trustmark Corp had a $1.9 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $359.8 million. Trustmark Corp’s stock is NA in 2024, NA in the previous five trading days and up 21.49% in the past year.

Currently, Trustmark Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 248.2. Trustmark Corp’s trailing 12-month revenue is $930.4 million with a 19.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 9.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $0.627 per share for the current fiscal year. Trustmark Corp currently has a 3.0% dividend yield.

Currently, Provident Financial Services, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 10.6. Provident Financial Services, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $636.1 million with a 12.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 65.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.317 per share for the current fiscal year. Provident Financial Services, Inc. currently has a 5.6% dividend yield.

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Trustmark Corp, Provident Financial Services and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Trustmark Corp has a Growth Score of 72, which is Strong. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a Growth Score of 85, which is Very Strong.

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Trustmark Corp has a Quality Score of 57, which is Average. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a Quality Score of 16, which is Very Weak.

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Trustmark Corp has a Earnings Estimate Score of 38, which is Negative. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 31, which is Negative.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Trustmark Corp, Provident Financial Services and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

Overall, Trustmark Corp stock has a Growth Score of 72, Estimate Revisions Score of 38 and Quality Score of 57.

Provident Financial Services, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 85, Estimate Revisions Score of 31 and Quality Score of 16.

Comparing Trustmark Corp, Provident Financial Services and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.