Preferred Bank reports Q3 EPS $2.84, consensus $2.57

Li Yu, chairman and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to report a quarterly record for diluted earnings per share of $2.84 for the third quarter of 2025. Net income for the quarter was $35.9 million. For the quarter, nonperforming loans decreased significantly from $52.3 million at June 30, 2025 to $17.6 million as of September 30, 2025. The primary reason for the decrease is the foreclosure of a loan with the balance transferred to OREO. We are happy to report that the OREO asset has already been sold as of this writing, and a large pre-tax gain was also recorded on the sale which will be reported in our fourth quarter results. Net charge-offs were $1.6 million on a year-to-date basis. This quarter we have also recorded reasonable growth in both loans and deposits. Total loans increased by $132.4 million or 2.3% on a linked quarter basis. Deposits also increased by $151.3 million or 2.5% on a linked quarter basis. Our customers appear to be slightly more optimistic but still cautious as there are a lot of uncertainties remaining in our economy. Worth noting is that without the aforementioned loan transferred to OREO, loan growth would have been near $170 million for the quarter. Net interest income and the net interest margin both increased from the previous quarter while noninterest expense was relatively unchanged from previous quarters. In late June, regulators approved our stock repurchase program but for most of the time since then, the market price was above what we were willing to pay to buy it back. During the third quarter, we repurchased a total of 70,842 shares for total consideration of $6.3 million.”