Q3 EPS Jumps 55% to $0.24 as Funding Costs Fall and Margin Hits 4.00%
CEFC sits 64% above its 52-week low of $9.6 on elevated volume (3.3× avg).
Summary
Q3 net income came in at $692K, or $0.24 a share, up from $446K, or $0.16, a year earlier — a 55% EPS increase. The driver is funding costs: interest expense fell to $150K from $374K, pushing the net interest margin to 4.00%. That follows the slight year-over-year improvement reported for Q2 in late July, so this is the second straight quarter of better profitability. The bank also disclosed a buyback authorization of up to 114,680 shares and a Tier 1 capital ratio of 26.67%, which leaves plenty of room to keep repurchasing. For a micro-cap OTC bank, a 55% EPS jump plus a 4% margin is a real re-rating argument, though the absolute dollar amounts are small and liquidity in the stock is thin.
At the time of this announcement, CEFC was trading at $15.70 on OTC in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $62.3M. The 52-week trading range was $9.60 to $17.00. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Wiseek News.