Third quarter income up 44% for Bank of the Ozarks

Bank of the Ozarks reported third quarter earnings of 52 cents a share, easily besting year ago results of 40 cents. However, the fast-growing Little Rock regional bank came in a penny below Wall Street expectations after reporting its financial results after Tuesday’s closing bell.

For the period ended Sept. 30, the Little Rock regional bank reported net income of $46.1 million, a 44% jump from 40 cents a share on net income of $32.1 million for the third quarter of 2014. The bank’s financial results included $2.9 million of acquisition-related and systems conversion expenses and $200,000 in software and contract termination charges. Those one-time items added two cents to the company’s quarterly earnings results, bank officials said.

Wall Street analysts had expected the fast-growing Arkansas holding bank to report quarterly earnings of 53 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

“We are very pleased with our outstanding third quarter results, including our record $680 million growth in non- purchased loans and leases, our record $859 million growth in the unfunded balance of our closed loans, some of our best asset quality ratios as a public company, and our excellent efficiency ratio of 37.6%,” noted Bank of the Ozarks Chairman and CEO George Gleason. “Our annualized returns on average assets of 2.05% for the third quarter and 2.11% for the first nine months of 2015 continued our track record of having achieved returns on average assets in excess of 2.00% in each of the last five years.”

Additional financial highlights from the quarter included:
• Quarterly deposits were $7.61 billion for the three-month period, a 48% increase from $5.14 billion at in the third quarter of 2014.

• Total assets were $9.33 billion, up nearly 42% from $6.58 billion on Sept. 30, 2014.

• Common stockholders’ equity was $1.31 billion at September 30, 2015, a 50.1% increase from $876 million at September 30, 2014.

• Net interest income for the third quarter of 2015 was a record $96.4 million, a 29.2% increase from $74.6 million for the third quarter of 2014.

• Mortgage lending income increased 5.6% to $1.83 million in the third quarter of 2015 compared to $1.73 million in the third quarter of 2014.

At the close of trading Tuesday, Bank of the Ozarks’ stock closed at $46.24, down 35 cents as just over 502,000 shares traded hands. The bank has traded in the range of $29.14 and $48.68 during the past 52 weeks.