Home Bancshares Inc. (NYSE: HOMB) of Conway on Wednesday reported third-quarter net income of $100 million, up 1.5% from $98.5 million in the same quarter last year.
Per share, earnings came to 50 cents.
The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 53 cents per share.
John Allison, chairman and CEO of Home Bancshares, said in a press release that the company was “on track” to meet expectations in the third quarter before Hurricane Helene hit. The bank has 78 branches in Florida.
“Our quarter was shaping up very nicely, and I was looking for 55 cents to 56 cents of diluted earnings per share and an [return on assets] of 1.96%,” compared to the 1.74% the bank reported, Allison said in the release. “But that all changed almost overnight due to circumstances beyond our control. Despite this event, we still had a very strong quarter.”
Income in the quarter was hit by higher provisions for credit losses. The company set aside $18.9 million for bad loans, including $16.7 million as a hurricane reserve for loans located in the FEMA disaster areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Sept. 26, days before the end of the third quarter.
The remaining portion of the provision was related to loan growth.
The provision was a 188.9% increase from the same quarter in 2023 and a 127.5% increase from the second quarter of this year.
The holding company for Centennial Bank reported net revenue of $258 million, up 5.1% from the same quarter last year and higher than Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $256.1 million.
The bank finished the third quarter with $16.71 billion in total deposits, a 1.1% increase from the third quarter of 2023.
Total assets were up 2.5% from the same quarter last year to $22.82 billion.
Loans totaled $14.82 billion, up 4.4% from $14.2 billion a year ago and up o.27% from $14.78 billion last quarter.
Shares of the company dipped about 1% on Thursday moring to $27.09. Year to date, shares were up almost 7%. Shares have risen about 25% over the past year.
The bank currently has 76 branches in Arkansas, 78 branches in Florida, 58 branches in Texas, 5 branches in Alabama and one branch in New York City.
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