Susan Riel
Analyst · Catherine Mealor with KBW. Your line is open. Please go ahead
Thank you, Charles. I'd like to welcome all of you to our earnings call for the third quarter of 2020. We appreciate your calling in this morning and your continued interest in Eagle Bancorp. As usual, Jan Williams, our Chief Credit Officer, is also with us this morning. Jan, Charles and I will be available later in the call for questions. I'm very pleased to announce that during this very trying time, Eagle Bancorp had a very successful third quarter. Despite the soft uncertain economy created by the pandemic and the very challenging interest rate and operating environment, our quarterly earnings were $41.3 million. That represents a 13.2% increase over the third quarter of 2019 and an increase of 43.3% over the second quarter of this year. And I am proud to say that for the period, we reached the highest level of quarterly revenue and net income our company has ever achieved. The return on average assets for the third quarter was 1.57%. The return on average common equity was 14.46%, and the return on average tangible common equity was 15.93%. At these levels, our profitability is among the highest level for community banks in the United States. For the third quarter, earnings were $1.28 per fully diluted share, which is a 19.6% increase over the same period last year and a 42.2% increase over the earnings per share in the second quarter of 2020. The improved profitability in the third quarter as compared to the second quarter of 2020 was driven primarily by an increase in non-interest income, combined with a lower provision and reduced levels of legal expenses associated with our publicly disclosed investigations and class action litigation. As for the generation of the non-interest income, we were extremely pleased by the performance of the residential mortgage division, which produced $12 million in gains on sale of loans during the quarter. In addition, we also achieved gains from the securitization and sale of FHA loans from the successful sale of OREO property during the period and from the sale of SBA guaranteed loans. We strive for consistent performance across all financial measurement indicators and are pleased to note that we had continued growth in the balance sheet with assets reaching $10.1 billion at September 30. For the third quarter, we achieved strong deposit growth, maintained solid credit statistics and very favorable operating efficiency. The strong performance in these areas, in addition to the increase in non-interest income more than offset the impact of further compression in the net interest margin and a slight decline in loan portfolio balances, notably in the construction loan portfolio. I would also like to speak in more detail about the results we had for non-interest income in the third quarter. Not surprisingly, the historically low interest rate environment has been a real boon to the residential mortgage division for both refinance and purchase money loan activity. For the quarter, gains on sales were $12 million as compared to $1.9 million in the third quarter a year ago and $3 million in the second quarter of 2020. We did change the accounting methodology for recognizing gains on residential mortgage loans locked on a best efforts basis to align with GAAP by recognizing revenue upon the loan being locked versus when the loan is closed. This increased the revenue in the third quarter by $1.6 million. But even excluding that impact, our residential mortgage division had a very strong quarter. Loan locks during the quarter were $593 million as compared to $282 million in the third quarter of 2019. During the quarter, we also recognized gains of $1.2 million from the sale of OREO assets. The fact that we were able to realize these gains are reflective of the disciplined and proactive approach we take to managing workout situations. Additionally, we had good production during the quarter by our FHA division of $912,000 from their securitization, sales and servicing activities and $168,000 in premiums on the sale of SBA loans. We've spoken many times about how these fee income business lines tend to be cyclical. Like the residential mortgage division or not easily predictable like the SBA and FHA groups, but believe that over the long run, they add value to our franchise. We certainly saw that this quarter, and I would like to thank the employees in those groups for all of their efforts and congratulate them on a job well done. I would also like to recognize the impact that our emphasis on disciplined underwriting and conservative credit administration practices have had on our credit quality statistics, which continue at reasonable levels despite the slowdown in the economy. At September 30, nonperforming assets were 0.62% of total assets as compared to 0.66% a year earlier and 0.69% at June 30, 2020. At quarter end, nonperforming loans were 0.74% of total loans, a manageable number. Net charge-offs to average loans for the third quarter were 0.26% as compared to 0.08% one year ago and 0.36% in the second quarter of 2020. The charge-offs in the third quarter were due primarily to two commercial real estate loan relationships. At September 30, 2020, the allowance for credit losses was 1.40% of total loans, offset by 8 basis points by the amount of PPP loans in the portfolio. Also at September 30, the coverage ratio was 190% as compared to 128% a year ago. And we feel we are adequately reserved. The allowance level was determined in accordance with the CECL methodology adopted earlier this year. The third quarter 2020 analysis took into account an improved unemployment rate assumption and additional qualitative reserves for second deferrals as well as our higher mix of Accommodation & Food Services industry loans. The provision was $6.6 million in the third quarter compares to a provision of $3.2 million in the third quarter of 2019 and a $19.7 million in the second quarter of 2020. Additionally, our CECL reserve for unfunded commitments was reduced by $2.1 million. As to some of the specifics related to the COVID-19 pandemic as of September 30, the balance of PPP loans was $456 million. We are starting to see more activity from our clients now that the treasury department and the SBA has streamlined the application process for forgiveness of all loans under $50,000, but expect that the attrition of these loans from our portfolio will take a couple of quarters, at least. Regarding loans, which were deferred or modified, you will recall that in June, we had 708 loans totaling about $1.6 billion, 20% of total loans in that category. At which point, we formed a special task force to monitor and work with these customers. I am pleased to report that as of September 30, that pool of loans is down to 321 loans, about $851 million, which is 10.8% of total notes, which will continue -- we will continue to work with our clients to remediate these loans. We also continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on the health and safety of our staff and customers. We have a spotlight on the at-risk industry exposure in our portfolio, our loan portfolio, most notably the Accommodation & Food Services and retail industries, which together comprised 11.5% of the loan portfolio. However, we are still cautiously optimistic about the economy of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. While there certainly has been an impact from the COVID pandemic, the most realistic estimates are that the regional economy will shrink about 5.5% this year. At that level, the gross regional product would still be in excess of $500 billion per annum and the Washington metropolitan area is the 5th largest regional economy in the United States. The rebound in job growth began in June. And since then, the region has recovered approximately 100,000 of the jobs lost in the spring and that, we are on track to add another 40,000 jobs in 2021. We are carefully watching the vacancy rates for office space throughout the region, which shows some softening. However, housing remains fairly strong for both the multifamily and single-family sectors. In fact, there is a shortage of inventory in single family homes. Through June of 2020, federal contract awards for COVID related matters in the region have been just over $3.5 billion. And there is no doubt that federal government spending has been a stabilizing factor for our economy. Given the low interest rate environment, fostered by the Federal Reserve and the trend of margin compression across the industry, it is not surprising that in the third quarter, we saw a decrease of the net interest margin to 3.08%. The margin was down 18 basis points from the second quarter of this year and down 64 basis points from a year ago. The decrease in the margin was attributable to several factors. The yield on our loan portfolio decreased by 17 basis points to 4.46% for the third quarter as average market rates decreased during the period, reducing the yield on new bookings and we reacted to competitive pressure to reprice loans currently on the books. We are also feeling the impact of the lower percentage of higher-yielding construction loans in the portfolio. Long floors on the portion of the loan portfolio did provide a buffer against further decreases in loan yields. We were able to reduce both the cost of interest-bearing deposits and the aggregate cost of funds during the quarter, which fell by seven basis points. However, the total yield on interest-earning assets declined 25 basis points during the period, a significant factor being the increased level of on-balance sheet liquidity, whose yield was only 12 basis points. In addition to the very low level of market interest rates, relatively flat yield curve and competitive lending environment, the margin was significantly impacted in the third quarter of 2020, by our asset liability mix and the level of liquidity we carried through the quarter. For the third quarter, the average loan-to-deposit ratio was 93%, while average overnight liquidity was above $1.3 billion. While we did increase our securities portfolio by an average of $86 million over the third quarter, we continue to maintain on-balance sheet liquidity, as we adhere to our conservative asset liability management strategy, as we monitor the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The efficiency ratio for the third quarter was 38.10% as we continued our prudent approach to expense management. This is compared to 38.34% in the third quarter of 2019 and 37.18% in the second quarter of this year. While the efficiency ratio is little changed from a year ago, we need to remember that revenue growth has been hampered by the low level of interest rate. For the third quarter, the ratio of non-interest expenses as a percentage of average assets was 1.40% as compared to 1.49% in the third quarter of last year. Of note, during the quarter, we enjoyed the benefit of lower legal fees, as legal accounting and professional fees were $3.1 million for the quarter as compared to $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2019 and $3.9 million in the second quarter of 2020. The net legal expenses for the quarter associated with the investigations and legal matters previously disclosed were $957,000. On the other hand, our occupancy expense for the quarter was elevated as we took a $1.7 million charge to properly value a lease extension and our FDIC insurance expenses increased by $2.1 million over a year ago due to the growth in our balance sheet. Given our asset size exceeding $10 billion, we will continue to judiciously manage expenses, but will also make the prudent investments necessary to have our infrastructure meet all regulatory expectations and to support the continued growth of our company. The company's capital position remains very strong, as we continue to build it through the quarterly additions to retained earnings. At September 30, the total risk-based capital was 16.72% as compared to 16.08% one year ago, the common equity ratio was 12.11% compared to 13.16% one year ago, and the tangible common equity ratio was 11.18% compared to 12.13% in September 2019. These ratios recognize the impact of the share repurchase program. Our strong capital position was one of the factors behind our recent decision to lift the suspension of the share repurchase program, which the Board initially put in place back in the spring at the inception of the pandemic. And as you know, we did declare another $0.22 per share cash dividend for the third quarter. The Board is committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet and is very comfortable with our capital position. Thank you, again for joining in the call this morning and for your continued support of Eagle Bancorp. That concludes my formal remarks. We would be pleased to take any questions at this time.