Community Bankers (ESXB) Misses Q4 EPS by 2c

Community Bankers (NASDAQ: ESXB) reported Q4 EPS of $0.15, $0.02 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.17. Revenue for the quarter came in at $12.09 million versus the consensus estimate of $13.4 million.

• Fourth quarter 2018 net income was $3.4 million, or $0.15 per common share, basic and fully diluted.
• Pre-tax income was $4.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with $3.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, an increase of $568,000, or 15.9%.
• The fourth quarter of 2018 reflects an increase in net interest margin, which was 3.78%, compared with 3.77% in the third quarter of 2018 and 3.72% in the fourth quarter of 2017.
• For the year ended December 31, 2018, net income was $13.7 million, or $0.62 per common share basic and $0.61 per common share fully diluted, compared with net income of $7.2 million, or $0.33 per common share basic and $0.32 per common share fully diluted for 2017.
• For the year ended December 31, 2018, pre-tax income was $16.8 million, an increase of $2.7 million, or 18.9%, over pre-tax income of $14.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2017.
• For the year ended December 31, 2018, return on average assets was 1.01% and return on average equity was 10.59%.
• Common tangible book value per share of $6.21 at December 31, 2018 is an increase of $0.59, or 10.5%, from December 31, 2017. This non-GAAP measure is calculated by dividing total shareholders\' equity by shares of common stock outstanding at each period end.

Rex L. Smith, III, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We finished the year with strong growth both in loans and in core deposits, while slightly increasing our net interest margin. We have emphasized credit quality and pricing discipline throughout the year, which allowed us to grow loan and deposit relationships in the types of products and rate structures that make sense for the uncertain interest rate environment. Our goal was to meet or exceed a 1% return on assets, which we achieved. Net income hit a new company best at $13.7 million for the year, which included opening two new branch offices."

Smith added, "Noninterest expense was slightly higher than anticipated due to group insurance costs and short term replication in salary expenses as we added some important positions as part of succession planning. These will normalize in the first half of 2019. Additionally, we incurred some one-time expenses in data processing and additional equipment and other costs associated with the opening of our new branch in Edgewater, Maryland."

Smith concluded, "We continue to emphasize credit quality and pricing structure as we are preparing for multiple economic and interest rate scenarios. Our liquidity, capital structure and credit discipline are key as we move forward. Our markets are large and diverse and will allow us to continue our controlled growth strategy and sustain strong earnings per share growth in 2019."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Community Bankers (ESXB) click here.

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