Peoples Bancorp trades at $32.76 per share and has stayed right on track with the overall market, gaining 6% over the last six months. At the same time, the S&P 500 has returned 5.1%.
Is now the time to buy Peoples Bancorp, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Get the full breakdown from our expert analysts, it’s free.
Why Is Peoples Bancorp Not Exciting?
We're sitting this one out for now. Here are three reasons why PEBO doesn't excite us and a stock we'd rather own.
1. Lackluster Revenue Growth
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a stretched historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Peoples Bancorp’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed significantly as its annualized revenue growth of 3.5% over the last two years was well below its five-year trend. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
2. Net Interest Margin Dropping
Net interest margin (NIM) represents how much a bank earns in relation to its outstanding loans. It's one of the most important metrics to track because it shows how a bank's loans are performing and whether it has the ability to command higher premiums for its services.
Over the past two years, Peoples Bancorp’s net interest margin averaged 4.2%. However, its margin contracted by 45.3 basis points (100 basis points = 1 percentage point) over that period.
This decline was a headwind for its net interest income. While prevailing rates are a major determinant of net interest margin changes over time, the decline could mean Peoples Bancorp either faced competition for loans and deposits or experienced a negative mix shift in its balance sheet composition.
3. EPS Barely Growing
Analyzing the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) shows whether a company's incremental sales were profitable – for example, revenue could be inflated through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Peoples Bancorp’s EPS grew at an unimpressive 9.4% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 17.9% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
Final Judgment
Peoples Bancorp isn’t a terrible business, but it doesn’t pass our quality test. That said, the stock currently trades at 0.9× forward P/B (or $32.76 per share). While this valuation is reasonable, we don’t really see a big opportunity at the moment. We're fairly confident there are better investments elsewhere. We’d suggest looking at the Amazon and PayPal of Latin America.
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