Contrasting Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) and HIVE Digital Technologies (NASDAQ:HIVE)

HIVE Digital Technologies (NASDAQ:HIVE) and Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

HIVE Digital Technologies has a beta of 3.58, suggesting that its stock price is 258% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Financial has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for HIVE Digital Technologies and Columbia Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HIVE Digital Technologies	1	1	6	0	2.63
Columbia Financial	1	1	0	0	1.50

HIVE Digital Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $8.21, suggesting a potential upside of 164.12%. Columbia Financial has a consensus target price of $17.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.11%. Given HIVE Digital Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe HIVE Digital Technologies is more favorable than Columbia Financial.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

24.4% of HIVE Digital Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.7% of Columbia Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 9.4% of HIVE Digital Technologies 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 company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HIVE Digital Technologies	-16.18%	-14.15%	-12.55%
Columbia Financial	2.96%	4.36%	0.45%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares HIVE Digital Technologies and Columbia Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HIVE Digital Technologies	$115.28 million	6.56	-$3.00 million	($0.21)	-14.81
Columbia Financial	$489.17 million	3.26	-$11.65 million	$0.15	102.00

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

Summary

HIVE Digital Technologies beats Columbia Financial on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HIVE Digital Technologies

HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. operates as a cryptocurrency mining company in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland. The company engages in the mining and sale of digital currencies, including Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin, and other coins. It also operates data centers; and offers infrastructure solutions. The company was formerly known as HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. and changed its name to HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. in July 2023. HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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.