Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh Quý 3/2026 của Norwood Financial (NWFL): Lợi nhuận kỷ lục, NIM đạt 4,01%

Điểm tin chính

• Norwood Financial Corp (NASDAQ: NWFL) đã báo cáo lợi nhuận thuần kỷ lục theo quý đạt 11,8 triệu USD, tương đương 1,08 USD trên mỗi cổ phiếu pha loãng trong quý 3/2026.
• Thu nhập lãi thuần tăng 37% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái lên 28 triệu USD, trong khi biên lãi thuần (NIM) tăng 38 điểm cơ bản so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái và tăng 11 điểm cơ bản so với quý trước lên 4,01%.
• Khả năng sinh lời được cải thiện, với tỷ suất sinh lời trên tài sản bình quân đạt 1,60% và tỷ suất sinh lời trên vốn chủ sở hữu hữu hình bình quân đạt khoảng 18,5%.
• Lợi nhuận thuần trước chi phí dự phòng đạt 15,4 triệu USD, tăng 53% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái và 13% so với quý 2/2026, phản ánh bảng cân đối kế toán lớn hơn sau sáp nhập, thu nhập lãi thuần mạnh hơn và đòn bẩy hoạt động được cải thiện.
• Việc giải quyết một phần thuận lợi vụ phá sản của một khách hàng đã đóng góp khoảng 400.000 USD vào kết quả liên quan đến thu nhập lãi hàng quý và giảm mức độ rủi ro của công ty. Khoản 7 triệu USD còn lại đang ở trạng thái ngừng dồn tích lãi.
• Quá trình tích hợp Presence Bank và các chi phí liên quan về cơ bản đã hoàn tất. Ban lãnh đạo hiện tập trung vào tăng trưởng tự thân, hiệu quả hoạt động, triển khai công nghệ và các thương vụ M&A chiến lược tiềm năng.

Dữ liệu tài chính quan trọng

Kết quả kinh doanh và hoạt động

Mạng lưới kinh doanh mở rộng sau vụ thâu tóm Presence Bancshares đã thúc đẩy thu nhập lãi thuần và đòn bẩy hoạt động mạnh mẽ hơn. Việc chuyển đổi hệ thống lõi đã hoàn tất, trong khi chi phí liên quan đến sáp nhập đã giảm về 0 từ mức 53.000 USD trong quý 2 và khoảng 4,9 triệu USD trong quý 1.

Tăng trưởng cho vay bị giảm bớt do các khoản trả nợ trước hạn và trả hết nợ cao hơn dự kiến. Mặc dù vậy, ban lãnh đạo mô tả hoạt động phát sinh dư nợ cơ bản vẫn vững chắc và cho biết danh mục tiềm năng quý 4 rất khả quan. Hầu hết các khoản vay đến kỳ định giá lại đều chuyển sang mức lãi suất cao hơn, và các khoản vay mới phát sinh có lãi suất cao hơn lãi suất trung bình của danh mục hiện tại.

Chi phí vốn cũng mang lại một số hỗ trợ. Lãi suất chứng chỉ tiền gửi bán lẻ đã giảm trong quý, mặc dù cơ cấu tiền gửi có thêm một số nguồn vốn công có lãi suất thấp hơn. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết cạnh tranh vẫn duy trì hợp lý trên cả định giá tiền gửi và cho vay, sự cạnh tranh gay gắt hơn chủ yếu xuất hiện ở các giao dịch lớn hơn.

Thu nhập từ phí đã cải thiện ở nhiều mảng. Mảng môi giới tăng 41% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái sau khi Norwood chuyển đổi các nền tảng môi giới và đầu tư sang Cetera Wealth Services. Doanh thu liên quan đến thẻ ghi nợ và phí dịch vụ cũng tăng. Ban lãnh đạo coi mức thu nhập từ phí hiện tại là bền vững và có khả năng mở rộng thêm.

Công ty đang mở rộng lộ trình trí tuệ nhân tạo 3 năm sang các phòng ban khác, chuyển từ giai đoạn thử nghiệm sang các quy trình làm việc cụ thể nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả và trải nghiệm khách hàng.

Định hướng của ban lãnh đạo

Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến biên lãi thuần sẽ khó tăng thêm nhiều khi chu kỳ tăng lãi suất tiếp diễn, nhưng cho biết tỷ suất sinh lời của tài sản vẫn duy trì tốt và chi phí vốn vẫn còn dư địa để cải thiện.

Đối với thuế suất thực tế, ban lãnh đạo chỉ ra rằng khoảng 21,5% đến 22% là mức dự báo phù hợp, sau thời kỳ thuế suất tăng cao liên quan đến các khoản mục không được trừ thuế từ vụ sáp nhập.

Về M&A, ban lãnh đạo cho biết giao dịch với Presence Bank về cơ bản đã được tích hợp hoàn tất. Công ty tiếp tục thảo luận với các ngân hàng khác nhưng không thấy các bên bán vội vàng giao dịch trong môi trường hiện tại.

Rủi ro và các yếu tố cần theo dõi

Khoảng 7 triệu USD dư nợ rủi ro liên quan đến bên vay phá sản vẫn đang ở trạng thái ngừng dồn tích lãi. Các khoản vay này được đảm bảo bằng bất động sản, và ban lãnh đạo cho biết tỷ lệ cho vay trên giá trị tài sản đảm bảo ở mức chấp nhận được và không dự báo một khoản tổn thất lớn. Tuy nhiên, quá trình xử lý nợ dự kiến sẽ mất nhiều thời gian hơn do quy trình phá sản liên quan đến bất động sản.

Một khoản vay còn lại là khoản vay hợp vốn mà trong đó ngân hàng đầu mối đang chỉ đạo quá trình xử lý nợ, trong khi Norwood là bên cho vay duy nhất đối với khoản vay còn lại.

Giá trị sổ sách hữu hình trên mỗi cổ phiếu giảm nhẹ so với quý 2 do lãi suất tăng làm giảm giá trị thị trường của danh mục chứng khoán sẵn sàng để bán thông qua thu nhập toàn diện tích lũy khác.

Ban lãnh đạo cũng cảnh báo rằng các khoản phí trả nợ trước hạn liên quan đến việc tất toán khoản vay khó duy trì bền vững nếu lãi suất tiếp tục tăng.

Điểm nhấn phiên hỏi đáp với chuyên gia phân tích

• Lợi ích liên quan đến vụ phá sản: Ban lãnh đạo ước tính khoảng 400.000 USD trong kết quả liên quan đến thu nhập lãi hàng quý đến từ việc giải quyết thuận lợi, bao gồm cả lãi quá hạn và phí thu hồi được.
• Triển vọng biên lãi thuần: Các khoản vay mới phát sinh và hầu hết hoạt động định giá lại đang diễn ra ở mức lãi suất cao hơn. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng biên lãi thuần tiếp tục duy trì ở vị thế tốt nhưng không dự báo sẽ mở rộng đáng kể.
• Tăng trưởng cho vay: Các khoản trả nợ trước hạn và trả hết nợ cao hơn dự kiến làm giảm tăng trưởng trên báo cáo, trong khi ban lãnh đạo nhận định danh mục tiềm năng quý 4 rất khả quan.
• Tính bền vững của thu nhập từ phí: Ban lãnh đạo cho biết mức tăng trưởng phản ánh chiến lược nhiều năm, bao gồm sự tăng trưởng mảng môi giới, doanh thu từ thẻ ghi nợ mạnh hơn và tiến độ hướng tới các mức hiệu quả tương đương các ngân hàng đối thủ.
• Môi trường cạnh tranh: Việc định giá tiền gửi và cho vay nhìn chung vẫn hợp lý, cho phép công ty duy trì kỷ luật trong khi tiếp tục tăng trưởng.
• Các thương vụ thâu tóm tương lai: Norwood vẫn tích cực thảo luận và sẽ xem xét các giao dịch phù hợp về mặt chiến lược và văn hóa tương tự như thương vụ Presence Bank.

Toàn văn cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Norwood Financial Corp Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mackenzie Jackson, Corporate Secretary. Please go ahead.

Mackenzie Jackson

Thank you, Marvin. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me today are Jim Donnelly, our President and CEO; and John McCaffery, our CFO.

The press release we issued earlier this morning, together with the presentation material that accompanies our remarks, are available on the Investor Relations section of our web page. Comments made by any participant on today's call may include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking information. Please refer to our most recent Form 10-K and other subsequent reports filed with the SEC for more information about risks relating to forward-looking statements.

During our discussion, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures are useful for analysts, investors and management to evaluate ongoing performance. A reconciliation of these measures to GAAP financial results is provided in our presentation.

I will now turn the call over to Jim.

James Donnelly

Thank you, Mackenzie. Good morning, everyone. We delivered another strong quarter with record net income and net interest income, a 4.01% net interest margin and continued improvement in operating leverage. These results demonstrate the earnings power of our expanded franchise following the Presence acquisition and importantly, the underlying trends in the business remain strong. The third quarter strong results are delivered by the entire Norwood team who continue to perform with discipline and excellence. These strong results are delivered as we take great care of our customers, support our communities and make a superior workplace for our employees.

Net interest income improved 37% over last year to $28 million, driven by strong performance plus the impact of Presence Bank acquisition. Net interest margin was 4.01%, up 38 basis points. Importantly, our improved earnings are translating into strong net returns with an ROAA of 1.6% and a return on average tangible equity of approximately 18.5%. I am pleased with our results and proud of the continued performance of our team as they focus on taking care of our customers, delivering great experiences and helping them achieve their financial goals.

I would like to provide an update on a customer bankruptcy we discussed during our second quarter call. Recall that we recorded a charge-off in the second quarter with that credit. In the third quarter, one of the businesses held by this borrower were purchased by a new entity. As a result, we received past due interest and related fees that we did not expect to collect, improving our results this quarter. John will share some of the details in a few minutes.

In addition, the loan purchase resolves a significant amount of our exposure to the borrower, derisking our balance sheet. This is a positive outcome for us and for our shareholders. I am grateful for the work done by those involved to reach this point. We continue to actively manage the remaining exposure with a focus on minimizing risk and maximizing recovery.

Next, I would like to review our 2026 strategic priorities. With the completion of the Presence Bank integration, we continue to explore ways to work smarter across all locations and functions. As we do, we are identifying best-in-class practices and policies that will enable us to better serve our communities. Our second strategic priority is to increase operating efficiency and elevate the customer experience using AI. We're moving beyond experimentation with AI and embedding it into specific workflows. We are now expanding the 3-year AI road map across additional departments.

Our third objective is to strengthen our talent pool and deepen our leadership bench. As we continue to grow both organically and through M&A, it is important that we retain the culture that has contributed to our success. This ensures that our commitment to community involvement and customer service is durable. I would like to highlight a few appointments and promotions from the quarter. Stephanie Abraham has joined as Senior Vice President and Commercial Team Leader, responsible for leading and expanding our commercial lending team. She'll be taking over in the Luzerne and Lackawanna markets as Vinny O'Bell retires late in October.

This key activity has deepened our presence in the communities we serve. Also, we are -- our commercial lending team, I want to congratulate Kyle Liner and John Veleber on their promotion to commercial team leaders, where they are focused on serving business and commercial customers in their regions.

Lastly, we have expanded the role of Joe Mahon, Executive Vice President and Market Executive, to include the Greater Scranton market in addition to the New York territories he currently overseas. In this role, Joe will continue leading commercial lending and deposit growth initiatives while working closely with customers, businesses and community organizations through his expanded market area. I'm excited about all of these appointments and look forward to their continued contribution to our success.

Our fourth and final priority is to ensure that everything we do is to increase shareholder value. We are executing with discipline our clear growth strategy. This is built on organic growth, strategic M&A and strong execution. All are evident in our results this quarter. We have grown organically, expanding our presence in established markets and serving our communities. Our fee income strategy embedded in there. One example of this growth has been achieved in our brokerage business.

Earlier this year, we transitioned our brokerage and investment platforms to Cetera Wealth Services. This enabled us to enhance our wealth management offerings, improve our service capabilities for our customers and keep trusted relationships. As a result, our brokerage business improved 41% over last year, driving growth in our noninterest income. We also have grown through M&A through the successful integration of our most recent acquisition, Presence Bank. On top of this growth, we are executing well with a diversified portfolio to minimize risk, disciplined underwriting culture to sustain high credit quality and financial discipline to manage the balance sheet exposures.

The strong execution we demonstrated in our ability to navigate the borrower bankruptcy discussed earlier. All combined, we believe the strategy will enable us to create sustainable value. We have now surpassed $3 billion in assets, but size alone is not our objective. Our goal is to build a high-performing franchise that compounds earnings and tangible book value per share while generating attractive returns on shareholder capital.

I will now turn the call over to John to walk us through our third quarter results.

John McCaffery

Thank you, Jim. Good morning, everyone. Building on Jim's comments, I'll focus on the financial results and some key performance metrics for the quarter. The third quarter demonstrated the earnings power of our expanded franchise following the Presence Bancshares acquisition and the completion of our core system conversion. We delivered record earnings while continuing to execute on our strategic priorities.

Net income for the quarter was $11.8 million or $1.08 per diluted share. On an adjusted basis, this compares with net income of $8.9 million or $0.94 per diluted share in the third quarter of '25. Return on average assets was 1.60% and return on average tangible equity was 18.5%. Net interest margin expanded to 4.01%, up 38 basis points from a year ago and 11 basis points in the second quarter. The quarter did include a onetime benefit to interest income related to the resolution of the borrower bankruptcy discussed by Jim, including the collection of past due interest and fees. Even that benefit, the underlying margin trend remained positive, supported by disciplined balance sheet management and lower funding costs.

At quarter end, tangible book value per share was $22.35, down slightly from the second quarter due to a decline in other comprehensive income as rising interest rates depressed the market value of our available-for-sale portfolio. From an operating performance perspective, pre-provision net revenue reached $15.4 million, up 53% from $10 million in the prior year quarter and 13% from $13.6 million in the second quarter. The improvement reflects the benefit of a larger balance sheet, stronger net interest income generation and continued operating leverage across the franchise.

Turning to credit quality. The resolution Jim described reduced our exposure to the borrower and contributed to a significant improvement in nonperforming loans during the quarter. Provision for credit losses was $100,000 in the third quarter compared with $1.9 million in the second quarter, which included the impact of the borrower bankruptcy. Our allowance for credit losses totaled $25.1 million at quarter end or approximately 1.1% of total loans.

On the balance sheet, total assets were approximately $3 billion at quarter end. Loans increased to $2.29 billion and deposits totaled $2.51 billion. Below the margin line, merger-related expenses is now essentially behind us. We recorded no merger-related expenses in the third quarter compared with $53,000 in the second quarter and approximately $4.9 million in the first quarter. This cleaner expense base gives us a better view of the earnings capacity of the combined franchise.

There were some unusual items during the quarter, including the favorable resolution of a portion of the borrower exposure, but the broader story is the strength of the underlying franchise, record earnings, continued margin expansion, strong operating leverage and tangible book value of $22.35 per share. We believe these trends position us well to continue building shareholder value.

Jim and I will now be happy to answer any questions you may have. Operator, please provide instructions for asking questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Matthew Breese of Stephens.

Phần hỏi đáp

Matthew Breese

John, Jim, how much of the $28 million in net income and the 11 basis points of NIM increase came from the bankruptcy settlement? And I'm curious how you guys feel about the 4Q '26 NIM and beyond now that we're in kind of a different kind of rate hiking cycle.

John McCaffery

There was about $400,000 in the NIM related to that. I mean there was -- we did some debt financing. There were some fees associated with that, and it also crossed over the quarter. So -- and things were phasing, but that's where we're kind of putting a pin in $400,000 in that number for the quarter. Our new loan volumes are going on at higher than the portfolio rates. We have seen some of the fourth quarter -- sorry, some of the third quarter was some mix of some public funds coming in at a little bit lower rate, but also our retail CDs dropped throughout the quarter as well. So that's showing some -- there is a little bit of room on the liability side, the funding side there. So I think we're in a good spot for the margin. I wouldn't, again, expect a lot of expansion as we continue into this rate hike cycle, but the asset side seems to be holding up pretty well for us so far.

Matthew Breese

Understood. Okay. And then the remaining $7 million tied to this borrower, what's the status on those? Are they performing, nonperforming underlying collateral? Do you feel like there's much of any kind of loss content tied to those?

John McCaffery

Well, we put them on nonaccrual as soon as the bankruptcy was announced. So they're still on nonaccrual, and they're still in our numbers in nonaccrual numbers. I want to see what they are.

James Donnelly

Yes. They're both real estate secured and the loan to values on them are okay. We think the workout will take a little bit longer because of that going through the process. The bankruptcy on the real estate side of that borrower is going to take a little longer than the operating businesses that I think they've already worked all the way through. So we'll probably wind up carrying these a little bit longer, but we don't foresee a large loss.

John McCaffery

One of the loans we're a participant on, so really it's the lead bank who's kind of taking the point on that. The other one we are the sole lender on.

Matthew Breese

Got it. Okay. Last one, and I'll hop back into the queue. Fee income was positive on a few different fronts this quarter. Service charges took a big step up. Wealth management was positive. Just curious how sustainable this level of fee income is as you look out?

James Donnelly

It's been -- I think we've talked about it in the past, Matt. It's been a strategy of ours for 4 years to increase our fee income as a percent of income. And a couple of years ago, one of our Board members left the Board to take over the brokerage side. I talked about his -- the results he's been able to drive in his department. And the other areas, including our debit revenue is up. We were underperforming. We were below the peer. We're working our way toward the peer. So from what I can see in the fee income, I think it's sustainable and hopefully expandable.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Cardenas of Brean Capital.

Daniel Cardenas

Congrats on a good quarter. Just I want to get some thoughts here on the loan growth we saw this quarter. Maybe we can give a little bit of color as to what impact of any paydowns and payoffs had? And then if you could talk a little bit about how the pipeline looks coming into Q4.

James Donnelly

Yes. We did have more paydowns and payoffs than expected. And so that softened the loan growth number, but it was loan growth on its own was good. And our pipeline going into Q4 is strong.

John McCaffery

Also in the quarter, I guess as we see loans come up for repricing, most of them are repricing upwards. If we look at a week-to-week sheet of 5 or 6 loans that are repricing in the week, all but one of them are repricing up. Some of them, people are just coming in for asking for rate relief on certain things. But -- so for the most part, the underlying trajectory on the loan book is up. Sometimes the payoffs come with prepayment fees sometimes. So there's a little bit of that in there, but we don't see that being sustainable as rates continue to rise.

Daniel Cardenas

Okay. And then maybe some color on competitive factors, what are they looking like? I'm assuming they still remain intense, but would you kind of say competition still remains rational? Or are you beginning to see a little irrational activity beginning to pick up?

James Donnelly

I think we see on competition is rational on both deposit and loan pricing. On the larger deals, they may be more aggressive. But I'd say, overall, we're able to be disciplined about our pricing and still grow.

Daniel Cardenas

Okay. And then last question for me, and I'll step back just on M&A. I mean with the transaction, it seems like pretty well digested now. What are your thoughts on M&A? And what's the environment looking like at the moment?

James Donnelly

2

Yes. The transaction went really well. I think the leadership team that joined our leadership team really kind of made it, we culturally aligned. And so I think the merger from the personnel side has been good. And if you take care of your people, they take care of your customers and communities. So there's probably nits and gnats that we're still working on. But I'd say, overall, it's pretty well digested, Dan.

And future M&A, I'm an active visitor and talking with lots of banks. And the environment we're in is good for banking. I think people are feeling pretty good about where they're at right now. Stock prices are up, earnings are up, credit quality is good and the regulators are fair. So I don't see anybody rushing to sell, but we are out having conversations if there are any that aligned like Presence Bank, we will be talking to them.

Daniel Cardenas

And then maybe last question. Just how should we be thinking about your tax rate here on a go-forward basis?

John McCaffery

So the tax rate has been a little bit higher because of some of the nondeductible items in the merger charges going forward. But I think in that 21.5% to 22% is probably a good place for us to be on tax rate.

Operator

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'll now turn it back to Jim Donnelly for closing remarks.

James Donnelly

Thank you, Marvin. Thank you for joining us today. The third quarter demonstrated the increasing earnings power of our franchise. We delivered record earnings, expanded our margin, improved operating leverage and significantly reduced the risk associated with the borrower exposure we discussed last quarter. With the Presence Bank integration behind us, our focus is now firmly on execution, generating disciplined organic growth, improving efficiency, deploying technology, maintaining strong credit quality and producing attractive returns on shareholder capital.

We believe we have a significant opportunity ahead of us, and our objective is clear, continue increasing earnings and tangible book value per share and creating sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. We look forward to updating you next quarter. Thank you for joining us.

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect.