Bank of the Ozarks earned $25.3 million in the first three months of this year, a 26 percent improvement over net income of $20 million in the same period last year, the Little Rock bank said Monday.
The bank earned 68 cents per share, better than the estimate of 64 cents basedon a survey of analysts who cover the bank, conducted by Thomson Reuters.
Shares of Bank of the Ozarks closed at $62.85 Monday, up 27 cents, in trading on the Nasdaq exchange. The bank’s first-quarter earnings were released after the stock market closed.
Bank of the Ozarks’ results“reflect some of the headwinds typically encountered during the first quarter,” George Gleason, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
But the bank’s loans and leases increased $146 million, “reflecting unusually strong growth for the first quarter,” Gleason said.
“Further, the completion of our [Omnibank of Houston] acquisition late in the first quarter is an important step in positioning us for future growth in Texas,” he said.
Bank of the Ozarks in January announced its largest acquisition ever, the $216 million purchase of Summit Bancorp of Arkadelphia. It was the 11th purchase Bank of the Ozarks has made since 2010. The Summit purchase is expected to close in late spring.
Summit has 23 branches and one loan office in nine Arkansas counties.
“We don’t think [the Summit purchase] takes them out of doing any additional acquisitions,” said Matt Olney, a bank analyst for Stephens Inc. of Little Rock. Olney owns no stock in the bank.
“They are looking [for acquisitions] in Arkansas and Texas; we think they’re also looking in a number of states in the Southeast [United States],” Olney said. “They have cast a pretty wide net. So we’re optimistic that they will find more [merger and acquisition] success this year, even after the Summit acquisition.”
Much of Bank of the Ozarks’ loan growth has been from its Dallas office, Olney said.
“Bank of the Ozarks is performing pretty well,” Olney said. “And they’ll be doing well for probably a long time.”
Bank of the Ozarks has more than 130 offices in Arkansas, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.
The bank will conduct a conference call at 10 a.m. today to discuss the first-quarter report. Those who wish to access the conference can call (888) 427-9411 and ask for the Bank of the Ozarks conference. The call is also available on Bank of the Ozarks’ website at bankozarks.com.
Business, Pages 25 on 04/15/2014