Two community banks' stocks have recently moved strongly-but in
Shares of Alaska's Northrim Bank sank 12% last week after it began a
Meanwhile, shares of Century Bancorp of Somerville, Mass., advanced 5%
"We were out beating the bushes in the first quarter," said Century's
These disparate price moves came during a week when the Nasdaq bank
Northrim, a $354 million-asset banking company based in Anchorage,
Proceeds of the offering went to buy eight branches in the Anchorage
The company viewed the secondary offering as the best way to finance the
The fact that Wall Street didn't want to give the company more than $11
"We now have a much better delivery system," with the Bank of America
In seeking more diversity for its banking operations, Northrim wants to
Century Bancorp's shares rose as the company reported first-quarter net
During the year, assets grew 46%, to $861 million, as Century's loan
The company can look forward to even more growth as a consequence of the
The planned Fleet Boston Corp. will not pay as much attention to the
"I don't think they care about this end of the business," he said. "They
Century may also bid on some of the branches that Fleet and BankBoston
The company's strategy gets high marks from analysts.
"This is a very well run organization," said Joseph Famoso, a banking
The challenge to Century "is preserving its margins," he said. "They