Flushing Financial Stock: Low-Risk Loan Book With A 4% Dividend Yield (NASDAQ:FFIC)

Introduction

In a earlier article on Flushing Fiscal (NASDAQ:FFIC), I was in awe of the very solid mortgage portfolio owned by this New York centered bank. The regular LTV ratio of the genuine estate financial loans was fewer than 40% which in theory usually means that even if the value of the fundamental home drops by 60%, the lender ought to be capable to wander absent with no any reduction. Of program some loans have bigger LTV ratios than other financial loans but to see an average of less than 40% is absolutely exceptional (and only .3% of the financial loans have an LTV ratio exceeding 75%). I have been maintaining an eye on the bank considering the fact that then and I proceed to be impressed with how this comparatively smaller bank is run.

Solid final results in the 1st quarter, with very minimal loan decline provisions

Flushing Economical in fact even now is a somewhat compact lender as the complete harmony sheet is made up of fewer than $8.2B in belongings even though the equity value is less than $700M. But you really don’t have to be a massive lender to be financially rewarding, and Flushing was capable to maximize its internet fascination income in the 1st quarter of this year.

Whilst the interest earnings lowered from $72.1M to $71.3M, the total volume of curiosity bills lessened at an even quicker speed, from $11.2M to $7.8M which resulted in an increase of the web desire revenue by practically 5% to $63.5M. Thanks to the solid mortgage guide and really minimal LTV ratios, the lender was the moment yet again able to retain the allowance for personal loan reduction provisions really minimal: in the initial quarter of this 12 months, it only recorded just underneath $1.4M in provisions.

As the financial institution is a ‘pure’ business bank trying to make income on the difference concerning the curiosity it pays on deposits and the desire it rates on financial loans, the non-fascination revenue is extremely small advert just $1.3M in the 1st quarter. To be truthful, this involved a $1.8M strike from the reasonable benefit adjustments on loans and that created the result search a very little little bit even worse than it truly is. Also, the lender mentioned it incurred about $4.3M of non-recurring costs in the to start with quarter.

The complete volume of non-interest bills remained relatively secure (which is an achievement contemplating the inflationary strain we are seeing elsewhere which triggered salaries to raise), and the base line exhibits a pre-tax revenue of $24.6M. Right after shelling out the taxes owed on this, the web earnings claimed by Flushing Economic in the to start with quarter of this yr was $18.2M for an EPS of $.58. On an annualized foundation, the EPS could now be expected to exceed $2.30 this year as the growing desire costs ought to create some added tailwinds for Flushing. On top rated of that, Flushing has been obtaining back shares which signifies the internet earnings will have to be divided around less shares excellent and that will also provide a pleasant raise to the for each-share general performance. Flushing a short while ago announced the boost of the full size of the buyback software. The business had .35M shares remaining less than the earlier approval but the board of administrators has elevated the whole quantity of shares that could be repurchased by 1M. And as FFIC is obtaining back inventory at a level of around 20,000 shares for every 7 days, the financial institution ought to be satisfied to gobble up shares at just $22.

The recent quarterly dividend is $.22 per share resulting in a generate of roughly 4%. Which is really superior looking at the payout ratio is less than 40% of the earnings.

Flushing is all set to consider benefit of the bigger desire costs

Most smaller sized banking companies appear to be to be investing about 20-30% of their asset base in cash or securities but Flushing Financial has only invested 13.5% of its equilibrium sheet in those people assets. And that’s fantastic as one could argue its extremely low average LTV ratio on the loan book means its financial loan e-book need to be safer than its friends as it can keep the loan losses confined.

As of the end of March, only $26.3M of the loans ended up categorized as ‘past due’ which is considerably less than .4% of the overall sum of loans superb ($6.6B). The full allowance for financial loan losses now recorded by the lender exceeds $37M so even if all loans would default and the lender would foreclose on the belongings without recouping a single dollar, the existing sum of personal loan reduction allowance should really already be adequate to address those people losses. But yet again, with reduced LTV ratios throughout the portfolio, Flushing must be in a fantastic posture to continue to keep the fallout restricted.

Flushing Financial also described why it thinks it is in a superior posture to commence the recent cycle of raising fascination prices when compared to 2015. Its funding profile is now much more diversified with just 24.6% of the funding provided by CDs and borrowings. All those are typically increased-price tag sources of funding and weigh on the internet fascination revenue and that is why Flushing was not absolutely capable to seize the positive aspects of the fascination level cycle in 2015 when in excess of 50% of its funding sources arrived from CDs and borrowings.

According to flushing, just about every 50 foundation position enhance in the desire rates without a corresponding increase in the deposit charges would insert $5M for every yr to the web curiosity money. If we would now presume the internet desire margin raises by 100 bp, it is uncomplicated to see Flushing need to be capable to incorporate a number of dozen cents for each yr to its bottom line many thanks to the better desire premiums.

Investment decision thesis

I like the way the Flushing Monetary management is managing the business. Effectively, getting the stock of a lender is shopping for a basket of loans though hoping that basket is run well by the administration. And it’s not always simple to locate a financial institution whose basket of financial loans matches with your individual financial commitment conditions.

One particular may well loathe New York real estate but with an typical LTV ratio of all-around 38%, Flushing Economic should really be rather shielded from a deteriorating New York real estate market. Flushing is currently trading at just a portion above its tangible book price, and I think this is a very good minute to create a extensive placement. I have been trying to publish put possibilities on FFIC but due to the quite lower volumes and broad spreads that hasn’t been thriving, so I should really in all probability just buy the inventory outright.