Cathay Moves to Better-Than-Expected Profit

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Cathay General Bancorp late Monday said that it moved to a profit in its fourth quarter on securities gains, higher deposits and lower charge-offs for bad loans.

After the markets closed, Los Angeles’ third largest local bank reported net income of $14 million (18 cents per share), compared with a loss of $39.4 million (-64 cents) a year earlier. Revenue rose more than 11 percent to $91.4 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected the company to report per-share earnings of 13 cents on revenue of $81 million.

Net-interest income rose 2 percent to $75.2 million. Non-interest income soared 95 percent $16.2 million, primarily from securities gains, higher wealth management commissions and lower losses from interest-rate swaps. Net charge-offs on bad loans fell more than 66 percent to $45.5 million.

“With the stabilization in credit quality, we expect solid commercial and residential mortgage loan growth in the new year,” said Chief Executive Dunson Cheng in a statement.

Shares earlier closed up 1 cent, or less than a percent, to $16.21 on the Nasdaq and were unchanged in after-hours trading.

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