First Western Financial reports Q1 EPS 36c, consensus 22c

Reports Q1 revenue $23.5M, consensus $22.97M. Tangible book value per common share(1) increased 0.9% from $22.01 as of December 31, 2023, to $22.21 as of March 31, 2024. CEO Scott Wylie commented, “While continuing to prioritize prudent risk management and a conservative approach to new loan production, we delivered a higher level of profitability during Q1 compared to Q4 2023. As a result of strong execution on our strategic priorities, we saw positive trends in a number of key areas including further improvement in our loan-to-deposit ratio, a higher level of non-interest income driven by our wealth management and mortgage banking businesses, and improvement in our asset quality with a decline in non-performing loans and net charge-offs to average loans of 0.00% in the quarter. Given our higher level of profitability and prudent balance sheet management, we were able to continue increasing our tangible book value per share and our risk-based capital ratios…When economic conditions improve, given the strength of our balance sheet, including the higher level of liquidity that we now have, we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on increased loan demand to grow our balance sheet, increase revenue, and realize more operating leverage, which should result in further increases in our level of profitability and additional value being created for shareholders”.