Eagle Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGBN) Q4 2019 Earnings Conference Call January 16, 2020 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
- Charles Levingston – CFO
- Susan Riel – President & CEO
- Jan Williams – CCO
Conference Call Participants
- Casey Whitman – Piper Sandler
- Joe Gladue – Alden Securities
- Catherine Mealor – KBW
- Brody Preston – Stephens, Inc.
- Christopher Marinac – Janney Montgomery Scott
- Steve Comery – G. Research
- Erik Zwick – Boenning & Scattergood
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to The Eagle Bancorp Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2019 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions].
I’d now like to give to Charles Levingston, Chief Financial Officer. You may begin, sir.
Charles Levingston
Thank you, Kevin. Good morning. This is Charles Levingston, Chief Financial Officer of Eagle Bancorp.
Before we begin the presentation, I would like to remind everyone that some of the comments made during this call may be considered forward-looking statements. Our Form 10-K for the 2018 fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K identify certain factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements made this morning.
The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments. Our periodic reports are available from the Company or online on the Company’s website or the SEC website.
I would like to remind you that while we think that our prospects for continued growth and performance are good, it is our policy not to establish with the markets in the earnings, margin, or balance sheet guidance.
Now, I would like to introduce Susan Riel, the President and CEO of Eagle Bancorp.
Susan Riel
Thank you, Charles.
I’d like to welcome all of you to our earnings call for the fourth quarter and full-year of 2019. We appreciate your calling in this morning and your continued interest in Eagle Bank. As usual, Jan Williams, our Chief Credit Officer, is also with us this morning. Jan and Charles will be available later for questions.
I’m pleased to discuss our financial and business results which again showed strong profitability with net income of $35.5 million for the fourth quarter and $142.9 million for the entire year of 2019. The earnings for the quarter and for the full-year are less than the same respective periods in 2018, but still reflects the high quality of our earnings, which continued to result in return on assets and tangible equity above peer group averages for community banks.
The earnings per share were $1.06 on a diluted basis for the fourth quarter of 2019 as compared to $1.17 in the fourth quarter of 2018, and down slightly from $1.07 in the third quarter of 2019. For the full-year of 2019, the earnings per fully diluted share were $4.18 as compared to $4.42 for the year 2018.
The return on average assets for the fourth quarter was 1.49% and was 1.61% for the year 2019.
The average return on average tangible common equity was 12.91% for the fourth quarter and 13.40% for the full-year of 2019 levels indicative of continued solid performance.
While our profitability continues to be very good, part of our culture at Eagle Bank is to strive for strong results across all of the performance indicators for community banks.
In reviewing the fourth quarter, we recognized that there were three major factors which somewhat dampened our earnings during the fourth quarter. The very difficult interest rate environment we are operating in has caused decreasing net interest margins across the entire industry. It certainly impacted us as LIBOR rates dropped during the quarter