Cullen/Frost Bankers earnings date
Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFZ) Q3 2026 Earnings Report
DE:CFZ Q3 2026 EPS Results
- Actual EPS
- EUR 2.54
- Consensus EPS
- EUR 2.50
- Beat/Miss
- Beat by +EUR 0.04
- One Year Ago EPS
- EUR 2.39
DE:CFZ Q3 2026 Revenue Results
- Actual Revenue
- EUR 685.73M
- Expected Revenue
- EUR 546.34M
- Beat/Miss
- Beat by +EUR 139.39M
- YoY Revenue Growth
- +2.86%
Earnings Announcement Details
- Quarter
- Q3 2026
- Date
- 10/29/2026
- Time
- Before Open
- Conference Call
- Thursday, October 29, 2026
Cullen/Frost Bankers's next earnings date is estimated for January 28, 2027, based on past reporting schedules.
Q3 2026 Earnings Call Audio
Q3 2026 Earnings Slide Deck
No slide deck is available for this earnings event.
Q3 2026 Earnings Call Summary
The call was strongly positive overall, with higher earnings per share, 9% average loan growth, strong consumer and commercial momentum, record pipeline levels, successful branch expansion, improved net interest income and loan guidance, and continued relationship growth. The company also reported good credit quality by historical standards and positive wealth management and insurance trends. Offsetting issues included higher unrealized securities losses, rising deposit costs, increased expense investment, commercial real estate and homebuilder monitoring, lower return metrics, and a slower pace of third-quarter share repurchases. The highlights significantly outweighed the lowlights.
For full year 2026, the current outlook includes one 25-basis point hike for the Fed funds rate in December; net interest income growth is expected in the range of 5%-5.5%, net interest margin improvement of about 10 basis poins-13 basis points compared to full year 2025 net interest margin of 3.66%, average loan growth in the range of 8%-8.5%, average deposit growth in the range of 2%-3%, non-interest income growth of 8.5%-9%, non-interest expense growth in the 5% range year-over-year, net charge-offs in the range of 15-20 basis points of average loans, and an effective tax rate in the range of 15.5%-16%; the company expects 12 locations in 2026, 14 planned in 2027, 12-15 in the near term, 50 to 75 basis point operating leverage for 2026 and positive operating leverage maybe in that same area or range for next year, approximately 80% loan beta and 50%-55% overall deposit beta, $1.5 million to $1.7 million of monthly NII benefit for each 25 bip hike, and expects to end the year in the $190 million-$200 million of share repurchases.
- Earnings and Per-Share GrowthThird-quarter 2026 earnings were $178.5 million, up 3.4% year over year. Earnings per share were $2.84, up 6.4% from $2.67 in the third quarter of last year.
- Strong Loan and Deposit GrowthAverage deposits were $43.6 billion, up 3.6% year over year, while average loans grew to $23.4 billion, up 9%. Average deposits increased $950 million on a linked-quarter basis, and October average deposits were $44.4 billion.
- Consumer Loan and Mortgage ExpansionConsumer loans ended the quarter at $4.66 billion, an increase of $736 million or 18.7% year over year. Consumer real estate lending drove the growth, and the mortgage portfolio exceeded $1 billion. Since the mortgage program began, 46% of mortgage customers have been new to Frost, and 37% of those new customers have opened additional products; management later characterized the additional-product figure as almost 40%.
- Consumer Banking and Non-Interest Income GrowthConsumer deposits increased $297 million in the third quarter, driven primarily by higher money market deposit balances. Consumer non-interest income increased $2.6 million, or 9.4%, from the same period last year. Consumer checking accounts have grown 52% since the expansion program launched in late 2018.
- Record Commercial Pipeline and CommitmentsThe 90-day weighted commercial loan pipeline reached an all-time high of $2.5 billion, up 16% from the previous record in the second quarter. New loan commitments were up 4% from the second quarter and 19% year to date, while core loan commitments under $10 million reached a quarterly record of $1.2 billion.
- Commercial Relationship AcquisitionFrost added more than 1,000 new commercial relationships for the quarter, continuing a streak of more than 1,000 relationships for six consecutive quarters. The expansion program accounted for 21% of new commercial relationships. New relationships from market disruption were up 73% year to date, from approximately 150 last year to more than 250 this year, and management said it was winning around 78% to 80% of opportunities from banks going through mergers and acquisitions.
- Broad-Based Commercial Loan GrowthManagement described loan growth as broad-based, with approximately 40% of linked-quarter growth from C&I and owner-occupied real estate loans, another 40% from investor commercial real estate, and most of the remaining 20% from consumer real estate. Approximately 42% of loan growth was attributed to new customers brought on during the last year.
- Branch Expansion Delivering AccretionBranch expansion delivered $0.22 of third-quarter EPS accretion, or 8.4%, and $0.51 of year-to-date EPS accretion, or 6.6%. Expansion-branch average loans grew 40% year over year and deposits grew 23%; the branches now have $3.25 billion in loans and $4 billion in deposits. One new Dallas location opened during the quarter, with four more planned by year-end, bringing the expected total to 12 openings for 2026.
- Expansion Branches Contributed Significantly to GrowthExpansion branches represented 13.9% of total loans, up from 10.8% a year ago, and contributed 48% of loan growth. They represented 9.1% of deposits, up from 7.6% a year ago, and contributed 49% of deposit growth.
- Net Interest Margin ImprovementNet interest margin was 3.78%, up 3 basis points from 3.75% in the prior quarter. The improvement was driven by a mix shift from lower-yielding balances held at the Federal Reserve into loans and investment securities. Management also identified repricing opportunities, including approximately $275 million of fixed-rate loans rolling off in the fourth quarter at a 5.25% yield versus an estimated 7.25% reinvestment rate, and more than $1 billion rolling off in 2027 at an approximately 5.70% runoff yield versus a modeled 7.25% rate.
- Investment Portfolio PositioningThe average investment portfolio was $21.2 billion, up $592 million from the prior quarter. Third-quarter purchases totaled $1.6 billion, including $625 million of agency MBS yielding 5.69%, $494 million of Treasuries yielding 4.21%, and $481 million of municipals yielding 5.89% on a tax-equivalent basis. The tax-equivalent yield on the total portfolio was 4.09%, up 13 basis points sequentially.
- Positive 2026 Net Interest Income and Loan GuidanceFull-year 2026 net interest income growth guidance increased to 5%-5.5% from 4.75%-5.25%. Average loan growth guidance increased to 8%-8.5% from 7%-8%. Net interest margin improvement guidance remained about 10 basis points-13 basis points versus the 2025 margin of 3.66%.
- Improved Non-Interest Income GuidanceFull-year 2026 non-interest income growth guidance increased to 8.5%-9% from 7.5%-8.5%. Fourth-quarter non-interest income is expected to include an approximately $5.5 million benefit from exercising a put on Treasury bill bonds to be purchased in January.
- Wealth Management and Insurance GrowthManaged accounts in the wealth management business grew more than 5% year over year, while commercial customers at Frost Insurance Agency increased more than 10% year over year.
- Strong Consumer Credit PerformanceConsumer charge-offs were 25 basis points, and consumer past dues were under 1%, which management described as a good signal for consumer health.
- Treasury Management and Core DDA StrengthManagement attributed commercial non-interest-bearing deposit growth to investments in the treasury platform, customer service, technology, and branch expansion. Approximately 7% of commercial customers are on the Treasury platform.
- Share Repurchases and Capital ReturnFrost repurchased approximately 93,000 shares for $15 million during the third quarter. Year-to-date repurchases totaled $175 million and 1.26 million shares, with management saying it would be satisfied to end the year at $190 million-$200 million of repurchases.
- Long-Term Texas Market and Branch OpportunityManagement expects to open approximately 14 branches in 2027 and described the near-term pace as 12-15 openings annually, with the possibility of opening more over time. Deposit share exceeds branch share in San Antonio, Austin, and Fort Worth, while Houston and Dallas were described as having additional opportunity to gain market share.
DE:CFZ Earnings History
| Report Date | Fiscal Quarter | Forecast / EPS | Last Year's EPS | EPS YoY Change | Press Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 28, 2027 | 2026 (Q4) | 2.60- | 2.29 | ― | ― |
| Oct 29, 2026 | 2026 (Q3) | 2.502.54 | 2.39 | 6.37% (+0.15) | |
| Jul 30, 2026 | 2026 (Q2) | 2.292.42 | 2.14 | 12.97% (+0.28) | |
| Apr 30, 2026 | 2026 (Q1) | 2.222.37 | 2.06 | 15.22% (+0.31) | |
| Jan 29, 2026 | 2025 (Q4) | 2.202.29 | 2.11 | 8.47% (+0.18) | |
| Oct 30, 2025 | 2025 (Q3) | 2.132.39 | 2.01 | 19.20% (+0.39) | |
| Jul 31, 2025 | 2025 (Q2) | 2.062.14 | 1.98 | 8.14% (+0.16) | |
| May 01, 2025 | 2025 (Q1) | 1.942.06 | 1.84 | 11.65% (+0.21) | |
| Jan 30, 2025 | 2024 (Q4) | 1.932.11 | 1.39 | 52.26% (+0.73) | |
| Oct 31, 2024 | 2024 (Q3) | 1.952.01 | 2.13 | -5.88% (-0.13) |
The table shows recent earnings report dates and whether the forecast was beat or missed. See the change in forecast and EPS from the previous year.
