Ron Paul
Analyst · Catherine Mealor of KBW. Your line is now open
Thanks, Jim. Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to our earnings call regarding the results of the fourth quarter and full year 2016. Thank you for joining in this call this morning. In addition to Jim Langmead, Jan Williams and Charles Levingston are on the call with us this morning. We will all be available for questions later in the call. I am extremely pleased to discuss with you our financial results and activities for the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2016, which were both highly successful periods. For both the quarter and the year, we produced record earnings. For the fourth quarter, we earned $25.7 million of net income, which is 15% increase over the net income for the fourth quarter of 2015 and is our 32nd consecutive quarter of record increase in earnings. The earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016 comprised the 5% increase over the third quarter 2016 earnings of $24.5 million. Fully diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2016 were $0.75 per share, a 15% increase over $0.65 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2015 and a 4% increase over the diluted EPS of $0.72 for the third quarter of 2016. This record level of earnings is attributable to continued strong organic growth and our consistent balanced performance in all key measurement indexes, including top line revenue growth, consistent discipline in operating leverage, a strong net interest margin and improvement in our already strong asset quality. As we like to say here at Eagle Bank, we monitor and manage all of the dials on the control panel to achieve our goal of long-term consistent growth in earnings per share. That really is our focus rather than the size of our balance sheet or the change in one ratio from quarter-to-quarter. For the full year of 2016, we achieved record net income of $97.7 million. These earnings are a 16% increase over the earnings of $84.2 million for 2015. Fully diluted earnings per share for 2016 were $2.86, a 14% increase over the diluted earnings per share of $2.50 for 2015. We are very pleased with the quality of our earnings and the continued high level of profitability as evidenced by our ROAA of 1.46% for the fourth quarter of ‘16 and 1.52% for the year of 2016, and an ROA common equity of 12.26% for the fourth quarter of ‘16 and 12.27% for the full year of 2016. The increases in earnings for both the fourth quarter and the entire year of 2016 were driven primarily by continued top line revenue growth, along with improved operating leverage and stellar asset quality. Total revenue for the year, fueled by loan growth and disciplined loan pricing, increased 10% over 2015, while non-interest expenses were only up 4%. For the fourth quarter, total revenue rose by 7% as compared to fourth quarter of ‘15, while non-interest expenses increased only 4% for the fourth quarter of 2015. We saw slight change in the mix of our revenue stream as the fourth quarter net interest income was up 7% over the fourth quarter of ‘15, while non-interest income increased 8% over the same period a year ago. Our continued focus on the combination of top line revenue growth and improved operating leverage is a key factor in our consistently improving profitability. The improved revenue during both the fourth quarter and the entire year was the result of strong loan and deposit growth and the continued favorable net interest margin. The additional deposits received in the quarter were core deposits from long-term solid customer relationships. Therefore, we generated excellent deposit growth in both the third and fourth quarters of 2016. Due to these increased deposits and the funds realized from the $150 million subordinated debt offering in the third quarter, we had excess liquidity in both the third and fourth quarter of 2016, which did have a negative impact on the margin. We estimate for the fourth quarter the negative impact on the NIM by the funds from the subordinated debt raise was 18 basis points. The margin for the fourth quarter was 3.96%, which was down from 4.38% in the fourth quarter of 2015 and 4.11% in the third quarter of 2016. The NIM for the full year of 2016 was 4.16%, down slightly from 4.33% for the year of 2015. However, we are maintaining our loan yields well in the face of low interest rates and competition and recognize that a significant part of NIM compression in past two quarters owes to our higher average liquidity position. Even with these factors, NIM is being maintained at a level significantly above industry and peer group average levels. Deposit growth was strong during the fourth quarter, with an increase of $158 million or 3% during the quarter. But more importantly, average deposits for the fourth quarter were up $443 million over the third quarter or 8%, which contributed to the excess liquidity. Due to the ebbs and flows within individual customer relationships, some of these deposits have been reduced by the end of the period. So part of the excess liquidity has already been reduced. And as we deploy the remainder into the loan portfolio, we expect to see positive effect on our margin over the next several quarters. We are very pleased with the overall trend of deposits, which at the end of the fourth quarter had increased 11% over December 2015. Our deposit mix and cost of funds remains very attractive. DDA balances have increased $372 million or 26% over the past year and still comprised 31% of total deposits, continuing to contribute to our favorable cost of funds. Loan growth rebounded during the quarter as loans increased by $196 million or 4%. Loan growth for the year of 2016 was 14%, but averaged 16% higher. We are very pleased to note that the yield on loan portfolio improved by 3 basis points during the fourth quarter from 5.08% to 5.11%. We have seen a tangible improvement in pricing power in the market, particularly CRE loans over the last 60 to 90 days and we are capitalizing on that opportunity. This pricing power, combined with the anticipated rising rate environment and our ability to redeploy liquidity into the loan portfolio, should have a continuing beneficial effect on asset yields going forward. The largest increases in the loan portfolio during the fourth quarter were construction loans, C&I loans and owner-occupied CRE. We maintain our construction loan position in line with our strategic targets. It is important to remember that our construction loans are generally not the ground-up projects, but tend to be the rehab of an existing building or a condo conversion in Washington, D.C. We continue to see demand in the market and have a robust pipeline at this time. With the addition of the regulatory capital we raised last summer and our disciplined approach to managing the composition of our loan portfolio we are very comfortable with the level of CRE and ADC concentration ratios. We just completed our annual regulatory exam and are very pleased with the results. The overall Washington area economy may remain solid with projections from continued growth in the gross regional product. There is certainly a raised level of expectation surrounding the new administration. We are cautiously optimistic about how proposed changes will benefit community banks, but we feel we need to take a wait-and-see approach. History tells us that going back 7 years to the days of Harry Truman, whenever there is a change in administration, no matter who is coming into power, Democrat or Republican, there is an increase in the population of the Washington area. While there is an influx of new government staffers, the folks who are already here usually choose not to leave, but switch to a new job with a lobbying firm think tank or trade association. Including the activity at the federal level, we continue to see loan demand that varies across the various submarkets in the Washington area. We need to remember that federal government spending makes up only 30% of the regional economy, down from 39% just 5 years ago. The private sector has grown by over 65,000 net new jobs over the last 12 months and by over 300,000 jobs over the last 5 years. The major growth sectors of our economy are healthcare, professional services and education, not the federal government. Our position in the market continues to be very strong. We retained our ranking as the largest community bank headquartered in the Washington Metropolitan area, as measured by deposits in the most recent FDIC report. We are the eighth largest bank in the region, but only have a 3% share of the market. So we have a tremendous potential from continued growth. Recent consolidation in the local banking arena has also provided us opportunities to attract quality personnel and customers. We remain consistent in our ALCO philosophy and disciplined practices and continue to maintain a neutral position in regard to interest rate sensitivity. Our ALCO positioning remains well balanced. Excluding loans held for sale, 67% of our loan portfolio is in variable or adjustable rate loans. The percentage of variable rate loans has increased from a year ago, making us slightly more asset sensitive. As of December 31, 2016, the re-pricing duration of our loan portfolio is only 23 months, including fixed rate loans, 28% of the portfolio re-prices or matures within 30 days, another 11% within the first year. In total, 69% of the portfolio re-prices or matures within 3 years and 82% within 5 years. Of the loans in our portfolio with floors, 34% are already yielding above their floor rate and we anticipate that the next 25-basis-point increase in rates under the 13% of the portfolio will pierce their floor rates. The asset quality of the bank was excellent during the fourth quarter, as it has been throughout 2016. At December 31, NPAs as a percentage of total assets, decreased to 30 basis points, as compared to 41 basis points at December 30, 2016 and 31 basis points on December 31, 2015. For the fourth quarter, the company achieved a net recovery of charge-off loans of 1 basis point of average loans. For the full year of 2016, net charge-offs were only 9 basis points of average loans, improved from our 17 basis points for the year of 2015. At the level of 9 basis points, charge-offs for the year of 2016 are the lowest annual level of charge-offs we have achieved since pre-recession levels of 2008. The allowance for loan losses at December 31, 2016 was 1.04% of total loans, the same as 1.04% at September 30, 2016 and in line with 1.05% at December 31, 2015. Our reserve methodology and practices have been consistently applied and the allowance has been computed based on a risk analysis of each component of the portfolio, loan growth during the period and various environmental factors. The provision expense was $2.1 million for the fourth quarter, as compared to $4.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. The level of non-performing loans and other non-performing assets in our portfolio continues to improve. Due to the declines in non-performing loans of 31 basis points of total loans, the coverage ratio at the end of 2016 was 330% and we believe that we are adequately reserved. Revenue from non-interest income was $7 million during the fourth quarter, an 8% increase over $6.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. For the year, non-interest income was $27.3 million, up 3% over the full year of 2015 results. For the fourth quarter, the largest contributor to the improvement was $971,000 in additional gains on the origination and sale of residential mortgages. On an annual basis, non-interest income contributed about 9.5% of total revenue. We are expecting to substantially increase that contribution level in 2017 from the results of our FHA lending group, which commenced operations in the fourth quarter of 2015, in anticipation of Ginnie Mae approval. The efficiency ratio for the fourth quarter of 2016 was improved to 40.22% as compared to 40.54% in the third quarter of 2016 and 41.47% in the fourth quarter of 2015. We continue our focus on operating leverage, including disciplined management of non-interest expense. The net results were shown in the efficiency ratio and another key indicator of the efficiency non-interest expense as compared to average assets, which was only 1.71% of average assets for the quarter as compared to 1.94% for the fourth quarter of 2015. Based on our continued due diligence in managing operating costs and the ongoing growth in the balance sheet, we believe we will continue to see improvements in the efficiency ratio similar to what we have achieved in the last several quarters. We will continue to invest in the infrastructure and quality employees needed to support an outstanding level of customer service and quality of operations as we prudently manage expenses. As an example, changes in our branch network and other facilities have resulted in a net reduction in operating cost for the fourth quarter of 2016 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, we continued to recruit experienced, qualified bankers, both for internal positions in the heart of the house and produces in our lending and treasury management units. They are all critical to our high service, high touch philosophy and strategy. We measure the productivity of this approach in our staff and are very pleased with the results, indicating average assets per full-time employee of $14.4 million and average revenue per full-time employee of $640,000 for the year 2016. With the additional capital from the subordinated debt offering and four strong quarters of earnings throughout the year, we significantly strengthened our capital position during 2016. We are pleased to note that at year end, for the first time, we had over $1 billion of regulatory capital. At December 31, 2016, we had a common equity Tier 1 ratio of 10.8%, total risk based capital ratio of 14.89% and tangible common equity ratio of 10.84%. The Board and management are committed to maintaining a strong capital position and continuing to plan accordingly. In summary, I would like to say how pleased we are with a very successful 2016. We have advanced numerous strategic initiatives, including strengthening our position in Northern Virginia. We are pleased with our current liquidity position, excited about the strong loan pipeline and reassured to finally see an up-tick in loan yields. These factors, coupled with our operating leverage, create a very optimistic outlook for 2017, during which we will maintain our focus on customer relationships, our attention to detail and our commitment to the community and to create shareholder value. That concludes my formal remarks and we would be pleased to take any questions at this time.