South Plains Financial Inc. (SPFI) Tops Q4 EPS by 11c

South Plains Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: SPFI) reported Q4 EPS of $0.55, $0.11 better than the analyst estimate of $0.44.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Highlights

• Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $10.1 million, compared to $8.3 million for the third quarter of 2019.
• Diluted earnings per share were $0.55 for the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to $0.45 for the third quarter of 2019.
• Average cost of deposits for the fourth quarter of 2019 declined 22 basis points to 76 basis points, compared to 98 basis points for the third quarter of 2019.
• The efficiency ratio for the fourth quarter of 2019 declined 391 basis points to 69.71%, compared to 73.62% for the third quarter of 2019.
• Return on average assets for the fourth quarter of 2019 was 1.32% annualized, compared to 1.18% annualized for the third quarter of 2019.
• Book value per share was $16.98 as of December 31, 2019, compared to $16.61 per share as of September 30, 2019.
• South Plains completed its acquisition of West Texas State Bank (“WTSB”) on November 12, 2019. WTSB had $198.4 million in loans, $386.3 million in deposits, and $50.5 million in capital at closing.

2019 Annual Financial Highlights

• Net income for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $29.2 million, or $1.69 per diluted share, compared to $20.8 million, or $1.41 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2018.
• The efficiency ratio for the year ended December 31, 2019 declined 235 basis points from the year ended December 31, 2018.
• Return on average assets was 1.04% and return on average equity was 10.94% for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to 0.79% and 9.66%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Curtis Griffith, South Plains’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “I am very proud of our results as 2019 was a pivotal period in our Company’s 75+ year history highlighted by our initial public offering in May and the closing of our acquisition of WTSB in November. We believe we are at a clear inflection point in our business as we successfully execute upon our strategy to scale the significant investments in our systems and infrastructure, which continue to have ample room for future growth. Our fourth quarter 2019 results demonstrate the successful leveraging of our infrastructure, as our efficiency ratio improved by almost 400 basis points to 69.7% and our return on average assets increased by 14 basis points to 1.32%, annualized, as compared to the third quarter of 2019. While we are pleased with our results, we recognize that this is a journey and know that we have much more to accomplish. Importantly, our achievements would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our employees, who I would like to thank for their commitment to the Bank, our customers and the communities in which we work and live.”

Mr. Griffith continued, “Looking forward, we are optimistic about the many opportunities that we see to grow the Bank. The outlook for the Texas economy is robust, as unemployment remains low and economic activity continues to be healthy, which provides a supportive backdrop as we work to accelerate organic loan growth. Our integration of WTSB is also proceeding smoothly and we have several cross-sell initiatives underway given the demand that we see from the WTSB customer base for our mortgage, wealth management and trust products, which we believe will provide revenue synergies on top of the cost synergies, as previously outlined. Importantly, we have gained significant acquisition experience over the last six months working to integrate WTSB and are developing a process that we expect to use in future acquisitions. While we still have more work to do to fully integrate WTSB, we are now at a point where we can begin exploring additional M&A opportunities. M&A will continue to be an important growth driver for the Bank and we see a solid group of potential acquisition candidates across our core markets which would enable South Plains to increase the franchise value of the Bank for the benefit of all of our stakeholders.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on South Plains Financial Inc. (SPFI) click here.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Vivos Therapeutics posts 35% revenue gain but widens net loss
• Pro Diversity Network (IPDN) Reports Q2 Loss of $0.15
• HeartCore Enterprises, Inc. (HTCR) Misses Q2 EPS by 185c