While on vacation, I used the down time to get caught up on earnings reports I missed during the very busy second quarter earnings season. This post was written on August 16.
On July 25 after the market close Independent Bank (IBCP) reported earnings of 44 cents a share, 5 cents a  share above Wall Street estimates and a year over year increase of 48.7%. That was up from earnings of 27 cents a share in the second quarter of 2017. Revenue of $41.3 million was 6.7% above Wall Street projections. The bank said that the larger than expected increase in earnings was a result of an increase in net interest income (34.8% yer over year) and a drop in taxes. Those gains were partially offset by an increase in the provision for loan losses and in higher non-interest expenses created by the acquisition of TCSP Bancorp (Traverse City State Bank) in April.
The bank’s total loan portfolio showed net growth of $101.4 million, 19.6% year over year. (This excludes the $294.5 million in loans acquired by in the purchase of TCSP Bancorp.
Independent Bank is a member of my Dividend Portfolio. The stock pays a dividend of 2.43% and the shares are up 2.3% since I added them to this portfolio on March 20, 2018. I am keeping them in the portfolio in the expectation that further increases in interest rates from the Federal Reserve will be good for bank net interest income and the prices of bank stocks.
