Commerce Bancshares: Solid Operator But A Rich Valuation Limits Share Price Upside (NASDAQ:CBSH)
Investment Thesis
Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (CBSH) is a $30.5 billion asset holding company and parent to Commerce Bank. CBSH has a rich history of lending to the Midwest for more than 150 years. It currently operates a little over 160 branches with serving its local markets located in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
To me, CBSH is a bank that you would want to own in the beginning of a recession and but not necessarily today. Since the bank has a solid net interest margin and operating expense base it is typically more profitable than the average peer bank, and because of this has a that valuation is typically higher than peers. As one can see from the chart below, it currently trades at ~2.2x price to tangible book value per share.
While I do think that CBSH has a great mouse-trap, the
