OZK third quarter income up more than 19%, revenue beats estimates

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 333 views 

Little Rock-based Bank OZK posted third quarter net income of $130.285 million, up 19.2% from the $109.241 million in the same quarter of 2020. Earnings per share of $1.01 in the third quarter beat the consensus estimate of 97 cents.

Total revenue in the quarter was $281.395 million, up from $220.133 million in the same quarter of 2020 and better than the consensus estimate of $266.36.

Net income for the first three quarters of the year is $429.24 million, 150.4% more than the $171.385 million in the same period of 2020. Total revenue in the first three quarters of 2021 is $879.128 million, up from $530.082 million in the same period of 2020. The 2020 revenue included a $196.88 million reduction for a credit loss provision.

“Our Real Estate Specialties Group (RESG) closed $2.21 billion of new loans during the quarter, which was the highest level of RESG originations since the fourth quarter of 2017,” the company noted in its management comments. “This contributed to the $0.68 billion increase in our unfunded loan commitments to $12.39 billion as of Sept. 30, 2021, which was our highest quarter-end balance since March 31, 2018.”

Following is other financial information in the third quarter report.
• Total assets as of Sept. 30 were $26.143 billion, down from the $26.888 billion as of Sept. 30, 2020.
• Total deposits as of Sept. 30 were $26.143 billion, down from the $21.287 billion as of Sept. 30, 2020.
• Total loans as of Sept. 30 were $18.067 billion, down from the $19.36 billion as of Sept. 30, 2020.
• Return on assets, a closely watched measure in the banking sector, was 2.15% through the first three quarters of 2021, well ahead of the 0.9% in the same period of 2020.
• Earnings per share in the first three quarters of 2021 was $3.31, up from the $1.33 in the same period of 2020.

Company officials said in the post-earnings management notes that the company has the cash to grow the business.

“Our combination of strong earnings and robust capital gives us great optionality to increase shareholder value. Options for deploying our excess capital include organic loan growth, adding new business lines, continuing to increase our cash dividend, financially attractive acquisitions for cash or some combination of cash and stock, and continued stock repurchases pursuant to our stock repurchase program,” noted the management comments.

Shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ: OZK) closed Thursday at $45.56, down 13 cents. The earnings report was posted after the markets closed. The share price in the past 52 weeks has ranged between $45.83 and $22.77.