Commerce Bancshares

CBSH on Nasdaq. Commerce Bancshares sells banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and municipalities. Market value $7.9bn.

Watch this stockFree. We tell you when something changes.

Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.

We can't read total debt from the filing, so debt is left out.

Should I look at this?

Worth a closer look

Read what could go wrong

This is not advice. Check the numbers below.

Compare with another stock

Return on equity
five annual reports to December 2025
16.5%five-year median

Yearly profit per dollar of owners' money: 17 cents. Above 10 is good.

Price to book
quarterly report to June 2026
1.8×

What you pay for each dollar of net assets: $1.80.

Earnings yield
past 12 months to June 2026
7.4%

Profit per $100 you pay: $7.43.

Quality score: 77 of 100. Price score: 76 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.

$54.78 a share, 17% above its 1-year low

Over the past year the price has ranged from $46.99 to $60.92.

Dividend: 1.9% a year

Paid every year for at least 5 years

Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).

Five years of cash, in billions

n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
20212022202320242025
Revenue
n/an/an/an/an/a
Operating margin
n/an/an/an/an/a
Debt to equity
n/an/an/an/an/a
Shares outstanding
0.12bn0.12bn0.13bn0.13bn0.14bn

Health checks

  • Free cash flow positiveDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
  • Accounting checksDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
  • DebtDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
  • Revenue growth, five yearsUnknown
  • Buying back its own sharesNo, 20% more shares since 2021

The quarter to June 2026

How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

  • Profit: $160 million, up 5% on a year ago.
  • Spare cash over the past 12 months: $1.2 billion, up from $495 million.
Profit by quarter
Profit by quarter
Quarter toAmount
September 2024$138m
December 2024$136m
March 2025$132m
June 2025$152m
September 2025$142m
December 2025$141m
March 2026$142m
June 2026$160m

From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.

Dates

Next results (estimated)
n/a
Last annual report (10-K)
24 February 2026
Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
4 November 2026

Who owns it

3 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 3 last quarter. 508 funds in all.

Jun '25
Dec '25
Jun '26

Sold out this quarter

Largest holders overall

From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.

Big holders and activists

3 investors own more than 5%.

From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.

What insiders did

In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $119,275 of shares on the open market. 12 sold $4m.

  • Neff Douglas D
    Senior Vice President
    Sold
    Date
    27 August 2026
    Shares
    666
    Price
    $58.15
    Value
    $38,725
  • Orf David L
    Exec. Vice President & CCO
    Sold
    Date
    14 August 2026
    Shares
    642
    Price
    $60.35
    Value
    $38,745
  • Roller David L.
    Senior Vice President
    Sold
    Date
    4 August 2026
    Shares
    830
    Price
    $60.28
    Value
    $50,030
  • Holmes Robert S
    Executive Vice President
    Sold
    Date
    30 July 2026
    Shares
    5,000
    Price
    $60.20
    Value
    $301,000
  • Kemper John W
    President and CEO, Director
    Sold
    Date
    29 July 2026
    Shares
    5,830
    Price
    $60.58
    Value
    $353,190
  • Brooks Derrick
    Senior Vice President
    Sold
    Date
    28 July 2026
    Shares
    1,041
    Price
    $59.63
    Value
    $62,080
  • KIM CHARLES G
    Exec. Vice President and CFO
    Sold
    Date
    27 July 2026
    Shares
    19,771
    Price
    $59.18
    Value
    $1m
  • FOWLER JUNE MCALLISTER
    Director
    Sold
    Date
    16 June 2026
    Shares
    200
    Price
    $55.04
    Value
    $11,008
  • DUNN TIMOTHY S
    Director
    Bought
    Date
    13 March 2026
    Shares
    2,500
    Price
    $47.71
    Value
    $119,275
  • JAKOVICH KIM L
    Senior Vice President
    Sold
    Date
    5 March 2026
    Shares
    949
    Price
    $51.45
    Value
    $48,826

From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.

Warning signs in its filings

Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.

None of the warning signs we check for were found.

We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.

We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 24 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 5 Aug 2026 and 8 later 8-Ks.

A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.

What could go wrong

Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.

Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.

What changed in the risks this year

Companies must list what could hurt them each year. These are the parts that changed since last year’s report.

  • Integrating FineMark into the Company may be more difficult, costly, or time consuming than expected and the anticipated benefits and cost savings of the Merger may not be realized.

    Could happen
    The success of the Company’s Merger with FineMark, including anticipated benefits and cost savings, will depend, in part, on the Company's ability to successfully combine and integrate the businesses of the Company and FineMark in a manner that permits growth opportunities and does not materially disrupt the existing customer relations nor result in decreased revenues due to loss of customers. It is possible that the integration process could result in the disruption of either company’s ongoing businesses or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures, and policies that adversely affect the combined company’s ability to maintain relationships with clients, customers, depositors, and employees or to achieve the anticipated benefits and cost savings of the Merger. If the Company experiences difficulties with the integration process, the anticipated benefits of the Merger may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected. Integration efforts will also divert management attention and resources. These integration matters could have an adverse effect on the Company for an undetermined period after completion of the Merger. An inability to realize the full extent of the anticipated benefits of the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, as well as any delays encountered in the integration process, could have an adverse effect upon the revenues, levels of expenses and operating results of the Company following the completion of the Merger, which may adversely affect the value of the common stock of the Company following the completion of the Merger. Additionally, following consummation of the acquisition of FineMark, the Company made fair value estimates of certain assets and liabilities in recording the acquisition. Actual values of these assets and liabilities could differ from the estimates, which could impact regulatory capital ratios and result in the Company not achieving the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of FineMark.
    Read more
  • The Company has incurred and is expected to incur substantial costs related to the Merger.

    Could happen
    Additional unanticipated costs may be incurred in the integration of the Company’s business with the business of FineMark, and there are many factors beyond the Company’s control that could affect the total amount or timing of integration costs. Although the Company expects that the elimination of duplicative costs, as well as the realization of other efficiencies related to the integration of the businesses, may offset incremental transaction and acquisition-related costs over time, this net benefit may not be achieved in the near term, or at all.
    Read more
  • The Company has incurred and is expected to incur substantial costs related to the Merger.

    The Company has incurred and is expected to continue to incur substantial expenses in connection with the Merger. These costs include legal, financial advisory, accounting, consulting, and other advisory fees, retention, severance, and employee benefit- related costs, public company filing fees and other regulatory fees, financial printing and other printing costs, closing, integration and other related costs.
    Read more
  • Integrating FineMark into the Company may be more difficult, costly, or time consuming than expected and the anticipated benefits and cost savings of the Merger may not be realized.

    Could happen
    There can be no assurances that the Company will be successful following the acquisition of FineMark or that it will realize the expected operating efficiencies, cost savings or other benefits currently anticipated from the acquisition of FineMark.
  • The Company may be unable to retain personnel successfully.

    Could happen
    The success of the Merger will depend in part on the Company’s ability to retain the talent and dedication of key employees. It is possible that these employees may decide not to remain with the Company, and if the Company is unable to retain key employees, including management, who are critical to the successful integration and future operations of the companies, the Company could face disruptions in their operations, loss of existing customers, loss of key information, expertise or know-how and unanticipated additional recruitment costs. In addition, if key employees terminate their employment, the Company’s business activities may be adversely affected, as management’s attention may be diverted from successfully hiring suitable replacements and may not be able to locate or retain suitable replacements for any key employees who leave, all of which may cause the Company’s business to suffer.
    Read more

Read it in the annual report

The deep dive

Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.

  • What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
  • Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
  • The three things that would make this a mistake
  • Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
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What a finished deep dive looks like

Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.