DCOM
Dime Commercial BancsharesCDocument history
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Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-21Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) Stock Can Q3 Earnings Fuel A Bigger Rerating?
Simply Wall St.
Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) Stock Can Q3 Earnings Fuel A Bigger Rerating?
Dime Commercial Bancshares just dropped its Q3 2026 scorecard and the stock did not wait for the fine print. Shares jumped about 6% on the day after the release, a punchy move for a regional bank that had barely budged over the past month. The headline spark was earnings power. Basic EPS for the quarter came in at about US$0.90 on revenue of roughly US$121.5m, while net income from ongoing operations reached about US$38.9m. Traders appear to be keying off that profit strength, and the real question now is whether this single print fully explains the sudden burst of optimism in the stock. Like the earnings punch from Dime Commercial Bancshares but want more options with similar profit power and balance sheet support? Line this quarter up against our list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals stocks (25 results) to see how it stacks up. - Revenue (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): US$121.5m vs. US$102.3m (up roughly 18.8%) - Net Income from Ongoing Operations (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): US$38.9m vs. US$25.4m (up roughly 53.6%) - Basic EPS (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): US$0.90 vs. US$0.59 (up roughly 53.2%) - Net Interest Margin, NIM (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): 3.35% vs. 3.01% (higher margin on interest earning assets) Prefer clean charts instead of another wall of earnings tables and footnotes? See Dime Commercial Bancshares' full visual breakdown of its latest valuation picture in the company report for Dime Commercial Bancshares. The upbeat pitch hinges on turning deposit strength and repricing into durable margin gains without tripping on costs or credit. "The main factor that has to go right is that Dime Commercial Bancshares converts its low cost commercial deposits, loan repricing pipeline, and controlled CRE exposure into sustained margin improvement without credit costs or expenses eroding those gains." Q3 shows real progress. NIM is 3.35% with ten straight quarters of expansion, supported by a US$1.1b rise in core deposits and a 1.68% deposit cost. Business loans are up about US$929m year on year, and pretax pre provision earnings reached roughly US$70m. Expense growth remains controlled with a sub 48% efficiency ratio, which keeps this bullish milestone broadly on track. The key worry is that heavier spending on new teams and verticals leaves earnings exposed if revenue momentum cools. "The earlier concern that Dime Commercial Bancshares' push into business lending and team hi…Read full documentShow less
Dime Commercial Bancshares just dropped its Q3 2026 scorecard and the stock did not wait for the fine print. Shares jumped about 6% on the day after the release, a punchy move for a regional bank that had barely budged over the past month. The headline spark was earnings power. Basic EPS for the quarter came in at about US$0.90 on revenue of roughly US$121.5m, while net income from ongoing operations reached about US$38.9m. Traders appear to be keying off that profit strength, and the real question now is whether this single print fully explains the sudden burst of optimism in the stock. Like the earnings punch from Dime Commercial Bancshares but want more options with similar profit power and balance sheet support? Line this quarter up against our list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals stocks (25 results) to see how it stacks up. - Revenue (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): US$121.5m vs. US$102.3m (up roughly 18.8%) - Net Income from Ongoing Operations (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): US$38.9m vs. US$25.4m (up roughly 53.6%) - Basic EPS (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): US$0.90 vs. US$0.59 (up roughly 53.2%) - Net Interest Margin, NIM (Q3 2026 vs. Q3 2025): 3.35% vs. 3.01% (higher margin on interest earning assets) Prefer clean charts instead of another wall of earnings tables and footnotes? See Dime Commercial Bancshares' full visual breakdown of its latest valuation picture in the company report for Dime Commercial Bancshares. The upbeat pitch hinges on turning deposit strength and repricing into durable margin gains without tripping on costs or credit. "The main factor that has to go right is that Dime Commercial Bancshares converts its low cost commercial deposits, loan repricing pipeline, and controlled CRE exposure into sustained margin improvement without credit costs or expenses eroding those gains." Q3 shows real progress. NIM is 3.35% with ten straight quarters of expansion, supported by a US$1.1b rise in core deposits and a 1.68% deposit cost. Business loans are up about US$929m year on year, and pretax pre provision earnings reached roughly US$70m. Expense growth remains controlled with a sub 48% efficiency ratio, which keeps this bullish milestone broadly on track. The key worry is that heavier spending on new teams and verticals leaves earnings exposed if revenue momentum cools. "The earlier concern that Dime Commercial Bancshares' push into business lending and team hiring could pressure profitability is still live, since core cash operating expenses for 2026 were raised to about US$260 million to fund new deposit teams and an equipment and franchise finance build out, which could weigh on net margins and earnings if the associated revenue and loan growth do not keep pace." Recent numbers partly push back on that fear. Quarterly core cash expenses are about US$64.3m with guidance toward US$66m, implying the higher 2026 cost base is already embedded. In contrast, Dime Commercial Bancshares produced record US$135m revenue, 3.35% NIM and a sub 48% efficiency ratio. Business loan growth and a US$1.4b pipeline suggest the expense step up is currently matched by productive earning assets rather than pure overhead. One Narrative has put a figure on that disagreement. → See the Narrative with its higher Fair Value, assumptions and all. Dime Commercial Bancshares shows how investor sentiment can change quickly after one earnings update. The real opportunity is finding stocks that could be undervalued before the market reassesses their earnings power. - Company 1 - 32% below our estimate - sells accelerator hardware and a software stack that large data centre customers already use as a default AI platform. - Company 2 - 39% below our estimate - expands its manufacturing and supply chain footprint so higher margin films and services reach fast growing installer and dealership channels. - Company 3 - 29% below our estimate - focuses contract wins on complex aerospace, defense, healthcare and industrial programs that embed the manufacturer deeply in long cycle production runs. Three companies from the same screener. Open all 34 potentially undervalued companies → This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include DCOM. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20Dime Community: Q3 Earnings Snapshot
Associated Press
Dime Community: Q3 Earnings Snapshot
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) — HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) — Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (DCOM) on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings of $41.6 million. The bank, based in Hauppauge, New York, said it had earnings of 90 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 91 cents per share. The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 87 cents per share. The bank holding company posted revenue of $197.5 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $135.3 million, which also topped Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $131.2 million. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DCOM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DCOM
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20Dime Community (DCOM) Q3 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
Zacks
Dime Community (DCOM) Q3 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
Dime Community (DCOM) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.91 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.87 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.61 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +4.60%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this bank holding company would post earnings of $0.76 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.79, delivering a surprise of +3.95%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Dime Community, which belongs to the Zacks Banks - Southeast industry, posted revenues of $135.35 million for the quarter ended September 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.14%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $115.61 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Dime Community shares have added about 28.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.4%. While Dime Community has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Dime Community was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's…Read full documentShow less
Dime Community (DCOM) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.91 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.87 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.61 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +4.60%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this bank holding company would post earnings of $0.76 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.79, delivering a surprise of +3.95%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Dime Community, which belongs to the Zacks Banks - Southeast industry, posted revenues of $135.35 million for the quarter ended September 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.14%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $115.61 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Dime Community shares have added about 28.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.4%. While Dime Community has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Dime Community was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.96 on $135.86 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $3.38 on $518.22 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Banks - Southeast is currently in the top 28% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, Hilltop Holdings (HTH), has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2026. The results are expected to be released on October 22. This insurance holding compnay is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.64 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -13.5%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 5.2% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. Hilltop Holdings' revenues are expected to be $319.86 million, down 3.1% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (DCOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Hilltop Holdings Inc. (HTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20Dime Commercial Bancshares Q3 Adjusted Earnings, Revenue Rise
MT Newswires
Dime Commercial Bancshares Q3 Adjusted Earnings, Revenue Rise
Dime Commercial Bancshares (DCOM) reported Q3 adjusted earnings Tuesday of $0.91 per diluted share, up from $0.61 a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $0.86. Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30, expressed as the sum of net interest income and noninterest income, was $135.3 million, up from $115.6 million a year earlier. Analysts expected $131.2 million.
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20Dime Community (DCOM) Reports Q3 Earnings: What Key Metrics Have to Say
Zacks
Dime Community (DCOM) Reports Q3 Earnings: What Key Metrics Have to Say
Dime Community (DCOM) reported $135.35 million in revenue for the quarter ended September 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 17.1%. EPS of $0.91 for the same period compares to $0.61 a year ago. The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $131.23 million, representing a surprise of +3.14%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +4.6%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.87. While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how Dime Community performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: - NCOs / Average loans: 0.4% compared to the 0.4% average estimate based on four analysts. - Net Interest Margin: 3.4% versus the four-analyst average estimate of 3.3%. - Average Balance - Total interest-earning assets: $14.36 billion versus $14.3 billion estimated by four analysts on average. - Efficiency Ratio: 48.4% compared to the 49.8% average estimate based on four analysts. - Net Interest Income: $121.22 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $118.93 million. - Total Non-Interest Income: $14.13 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $12.3 million. - Service charges and other fees: $6.88 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $6.09 million. - BOLI income: $4.68 million compared to the $4.51 million average estimate based on three analysts. - Loan level derivative income: $0.7 million compared to the $0.59 million average estimate based on three analysts. - Non-interest income- Other: $0.88 million versus $0.77 million estimated by three analysts on average. - Gain on sale of residential loans: $0.08 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $0.18 million. - Title fees: $0.19 million compared to the $0.21 million average estimate based on two analysts. View all Key Company Metrics for Dime Community here>>> Shares of Dime Community have returned -5.4% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.7% change…Read full documentShow less
Dime Community (DCOM) reported $135.35 million in revenue for the quarter ended September 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 17.1%. EPS of $0.91 for the same period compares to $0.61 a year ago. The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $131.23 million, representing a surprise of +3.14%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +4.6%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.87. While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how Dime Community performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: - NCOs / Average loans: 0.4% compared to the 0.4% average estimate based on four analysts. - Net Interest Margin: 3.4% versus the four-analyst average estimate of 3.3%. - Average Balance - Total interest-earning assets: $14.36 billion versus $14.3 billion estimated by four analysts on average. - Efficiency Ratio: 48.4% compared to the 49.8% average estimate based on four analysts. - Net Interest Income: $121.22 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $118.93 million. - Total Non-Interest Income: $14.13 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $12.3 million. - Service charges and other fees: $6.88 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $6.09 million. - BOLI income: $4.68 million compared to the $4.51 million average estimate based on three analysts. - Loan level derivative income: $0.7 million compared to the $0.59 million average estimate based on three analysts. - Non-interest income- Other: $0.88 million versus $0.77 million estimated by three analysts on average. - Gain on sale of residential loans: $0.08 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $0.18 million. - Title fees: $0.19 million compared to the $0.21 million average estimate based on two analysts. View all Key Company Metrics for Dime Community here>>> Shares of Dime Community have returned -5.4% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.7% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), indicating that it could underperform the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (DCOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. Q3 2026 Earnings Call Summary
Moby
Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. Q3 2026 Earnings Call Summary
Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. - Management attributed record revenues and improved profitability to the successful execution of a multi-year strategy to diversify the loan portfolio away from legacy commercial real estate (CRE) toward business-led C&I lending. - The bank achieved a 30% year-over-year increase in business loans, driven by the maturation of private banking teams and specialty finance verticals hired over the last three years. - Net Interest Margin (NIM) expansion of 7 basis points was supported by the ability to maintain stable deposit costs while improving loan yields through higher-rate originations. - The acquisition of Empire State Bank is framed as a low-risk entry into Staten Island, providing a granular, low-cost deposit base that management believes will be highly valuable in a higher-rate environment. - Management highlighted a significant competitive advantage in their $2 billion cash position, which provides liquidity for organic growth and insulates the bank from cyclical short-term rate volatility. - The CRE concentration ratio was successfully reduced to 338%, moving toward a long-term target of sub-350% to differentiate the franchise from local peers and drive valuation multiples. - Management increased its NIM guidance to over 3.60% by the end of 2023, citing a clear line of sight driven by the repricing of approximately $2 billion in fixed-rate loans over the next five quarters. - The bank is targeting a Return on Assets (ROA) in excess of 1.31% by the back half of 2027, supported by continued operating leverage and asset repricing. - Guidance assumes low-to-mid single-digit loan growth over the next 6 to 9 months, with business loan growth of $200-$250 million per quarter offsetting roughly $500 million in planned multifamily runoff. - Future Federal Reserve rate hikes are expected to be neutral to NIM as the lagging effect on deposit costs begins to catch up with asset yield benefits. - Efficiency ratio targets are set for 45% or lower in the long term, driven by revenue growth and the realization of synergies from the Empire State Bank acquisition. - Non-performing assets (NPAs) increased due to specific reserves on one C&I relationship and a charge-down on a long-standing rent-regulated multifamily loa…Read full documentShow less
Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. - Management attributed record revenues and improved profitability to the successful execution of a multi-year strategy to diversify the loan portfolio away from legacy commercial real estate (CRE) toward business-led C&I lending. - The bank achieved a 30% year-over-year increase in business loans, driven by the maturation of private banking teams and specialty finance verticals hired over the last three years. - Net Interest Margin (NIM) expansion of 7 basis points was supported by the ability to maintain stable deposit costs while improving loan yields through higher-rate originations. - The acquisition of Empire State Bank is framed as a low-risk entry into Staten Island, providing a granular, low-cost deposit base that management believes will be highly valuable in a higher-rate environment. - Management highlighted a significant competitive advantage in their $2 billion cash position, which provides liquidity for organic growth and insulates the bank from cyclical short-term rate volatility. - The CRE concentration ratio was successfully reduced to 338%, moving toward a long-term target of sub-350% to differentiate the franchise from local peers and drive valuation multiples. - Management increased its NIM guidance to over 3.60% by the end of 2023, citing a clear line of sight driven by the repricing of approximately $2 billion in fixed-rate loans over the next five quarters. - The bank is targeting a Return on Assets (ROA) in excess of 1.31% by the back half of 2027, supported by continued operating leverage and asset repricing. - Guidance assumes low-to-mid single-digit loan growth over the next 6 to 9 months, with business loan growth of $200-$250 million per quarter offsetting roughly $500 million in planned multifamily runoff. - Future Federal Reserve rate hikes are expected to be neutral to NIM as the lagging effect on deposit costs begins to catch up with asset yield benefits. - Efficiency ratio targets are set for 45% or lower in the long term, driven by revenue growth and the realization of synergies from the Empire State Bank acquisition. - Non-performing assets (NPAs) increased due to specific reserves on one C&I relationship and a charge-down on a long-standing rent-regulated multifamily loan. - Management noted that substandard loans actually declined by 7% linked-quarter, suggesting that the NPA increase reflects the resolution of known legacy issues rather than new systemic stress. - The Empire State Bank transaction includes a 50% cash consideration mix, expected to be 3.5% accretive to earnings with an internal rate of return (IRR) exceeding 20%. - Pro forma capital levels after the acquisition are expected to remain sufficient to support both organic growth and continued share buybacks. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. - Management stated that the first recent rate hike was accretive by a couple of basis points, but subsequent hikes will likely be neutral as deposit betas increase. - They emphasized that their 32% non-interest-bearing DDA mix is 'real' operating cash, which they expect to be stickier than the rate-sensitive deposits seen in previous cycles. - Management clarified that all current multifamily NPAs are within the rent-regulated segment, while the free-market portfolio remains clean. - The bank is not originating new rent-regulated loans and is actively managing the existing $1 billion exposure down through natural runoff and selective resolutions. - Management is intentionally holding high cash levels to remain neutral to short-term rates and has paused securities purchases until there is more rate visibility. - The 3.60% NIM target does not assume aggressive cash deployment; if the loan-to-deposit ratio were normalized to 90-95%, management suggested NIM could reach 3.80% to 3.90%.
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20Dime Commercial (DCOM) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Motley Fool
Dime Commercial (DCOM) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 - President and Chief Executive Officer - Stuart H. Lubow - Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer - Avinash Reddy - Chief Commercial Officer - Tom Geisel Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. You would then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that discussions during this call contain forward looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of The U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 2000. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements. Including as set forth in today's press release and the company's filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to which we refer you. During this call, references will be made to non GAAP financial measures as supplemental measures to review and assess operating performance. These non GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared and presented in accordance with The US GAAP. For information about these non GAAP measures and for reconciliation to GAAP, please refer to today's earnings release. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stuart H. Lubow, President and CEO. Please go ahead. Stuart H. Lubow: Good morning. Thank you, Shannon. And thank you all for joining us this morning for our third quarter earnings call. With me today are Avinash Reddy, our Chief Operating Officer and CFO and Tom Geisel, our Chief Commercial Officer. In my prepared remarks, I will touch upon the progress we made in the third quarter. In addition, I will provide a summary of our acquisition of Empire State Bank. Avinash will then provide financial details for the third quarter and the financial i…Read full documentShow less
Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 - President and Chief Executive Officer - Stuart H. Lubow - Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer - Avinash Reddy - Chief Commercial Officer - Tom Geisel Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. You would then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that discussions during this call contain forward looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of The U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 2000. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements. Including as set forth in today's press release and the company's filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to which we refer you. During this call, references will be made to non GAAP financial measures as supplemental measures to review and assess operating performance. These non GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared and presented in accordance with The US GAAP. For information about these non GAAP measures and for reconciliation to GAAP, please refer to today's earnings release. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stuart H. Lubow, President and CEO. Please go ahead. Stuart H. Lubow: Good morning. Thank you, Shannon. And thank you all for joining us this morning for our third quarter earnings call. With me today are Avinash Reddy, our Chief Operating Officer and CFO and Tom Geisel, our Chief Commercial Officer. In my prepared remarks, I will touch upon the progress we made in the third quarter. In addition, I will provide a summary of our acquisition of Empire State Bank. Avinash will then provide financial details for the third quarter and the financial impact of the Empire transaction. Suffice to say, Dime's organic growth trajectory is very strong. And we have clearly differentiated our franchise from our local competitors as it relates to our ability to grow low cost, and best in class deposits diversify our loan portfolio away from its historical CRE focus, attract talented bankers, and at the same time, improve NIM and grow net interest income and overall profitability. Revenues for the third quarter were 135 million which once again was a record for Dime. EPS was up 53% versus prior year, The NIM was up 7 basis points versus the linked quarter as we were able to maintain our cost of deposits while improving our yield on loans. On the loan front, we are executing well and our growth plans are in place. Year over year, growth in business loans was approximately $929 million which represents 30% year-over-year increase. Our loan pipeline continues to be very strong and has an approximately $1.4 billion with a weighted average rate of approximately 6.5%. We were pleased to report a return of assets of 1.10% for the third quarter and a core efficiency ratio of below 48%. As you know, we have been very active on the hiring front over the past 3 years. And it is gratifying to see these investments contributing to the improved profitability. We continue to believe that the hires we have made over the last few years have a long runway in front of them as we execute our clearly articulated growth plan. The disruption in our local marketplace remains very high and the environment for our organic growth strategy as it relates to acquiring clients and bankers continues to be very attractive. In this regard, we are pleased to announce our entry into the affordable housing space with the launch of a dedicated group that will be led by Keith Smith. Finally, as it relates to profitability, our significant lowering pricing opportunity over the next 5 quarters will continue to serve as a catalyst for continued revenue growth in the quarters ahead. During the quarter, we reduced our CRE ratio to 338%. While repurchasing approximately 1% of our shares outstanding. We continue to see significant long term value in our shares underpinned by continued NIM expansion and net interest income growth. Avinash will provide some color on capital in his prepared remarks. This morning, we announced that we signed a definitive agreement to acquire Empire State Bank. We are very pleased to welcome CEO, Thomas Reid, and his team to Dime. By way of background, Empire is a $600 million asset-sized commercial bank with a very granular low cost deposit base, that is headquartered in Staten Island. Dime has had our eye on having a greater ground-level branch presence in Staten Island for a long time, and we believe Empire is a very low risk transaction for our shareholders. Given their granular deposit base and low risk LTV loan portfolio. The transaction expands Dime's presence to all 5 boroughs of New York City, and we believe Empire's granular deposit base will have real value in a higher rate environment. Empire represented a unique opportunity for Dime and a transaction economics and strategic rationale makes sense for both sets of shareholders. With that said, I will end by saying our focus remains on strong organic growth as seen by our $1.1 billion year-over-year growth in core deposits, Our significant cash position was stood at over $2 billion at quarter end, positions us very favorably for organic growth and we expect to benefit from meaningful lowering pricing over the next 5 quarters. I want to end by thanking all our dedicated employees for their efforts and in positioning Dime as the best commercial bank in Metro New York. With that, I will turn the call over to Avinash. Avinash Reddy: Thank you, Stuart. Core EPS for the third quarter was $0.91 per share. Core pre tax pre provision net revenue of $70 million represented 106 basis points of average assets. By maintaining a strong focus on cost of funds management, and the growth of our business loan portfolio, our NIM has now increased for 10 consecutive quarters. The reported third quarter NIM increased to 3.35% excluding the benefits from purchase accounting and prepayment fees, the run rate NIM for the third quarter would have been closer to 3.32% compared to a 3.22% run rate for the prior quarter. Average earning assets for the third quarter was approximately $14.36 billion Core cash operating expenses of approximately $64.3 million was in line with our expectations. The loan loss provision was in line with the prior quarter at $13.8 million and the allowance to loans increased to 99 basis points. The loan loss provision in the quarter was primarily to cover specific reserves on C&I loans, growth in the business loan portfolio and charge offs on multifamily loans. While NPAs were up, substandard loans were down 7% on a linked quarter basis and in addition, 30 to 89 days past due loans also declined on a linked quarter basis. As Stu mentioned, we reduced our CRE concentration ratio to 338% while at the same time repurchasing approximately 1% of our shares outstanding. We believe that robust growth in our C&I businesses and operating with a CRE ratio that is lower than 350% will set us apart from the other local banks which are operating between 375 to 450 and Dime will be rewarded in the medium to longer term with a higher valuation. Our strong capital position allowed us to structure the Empire with a $30 million cash component. Which represents a little more than 50% of the consideration mix for the transaction. The transaction's return metrics for Dime are very strong. With an internal rate of return well in excess of 20% which is above our cost of capital. The transaction is expected to be approximately 3.5% accretive to earnings on a run rate basis once all synergies have been realized. We expect the impact on our capital ratios from the Empire deal to be approximately 35 basis points factoring in the full impact of onetime deal costs and the interest rate mark in an elevated rate scenario. Finally, our pro form a capital levels provide us room for both organic growth as well as continued buybacks. Turning next to forward guidance. As usual, while we will not provide any specific guidance on 2027 until our January earnings call, I will provide some thoughts on the remainder of 2026. As I mentioned previously, excluding purchase accounting and prepayment fees, the run rate NIM for the third quarter would have been closer to 3.32%. We would use this 3.32% NIM as a starting point for modeling purposes going forward. We expect continued NIM expansion in the fourth quarter driven primarily by loan repricing and secondarily from the recent Federal Reserve rate increase. With respect to rate hikes, we expect the September rate hike to benefit NIM by a couple of basis points. And any future rate hikes will likely be neutral to NIM as there will be a lagging effect on deposit costs. We have repeatedly said our large cash position is a competitive advantage that will allow us to take advantage of lending opportunities as they arise and it will help us create a sustainable NIM that is not subject to cyclical moves based on the trajectory of short term rates. While it is hard to predict the NIM in individual quarters, and the path may not be in a straight line on equal increments, we are focused on the ultimate destination by the fourth quarter of 2023. On our prior earnings call, we discussed a run rate quarterly NIM of over 3.50% by the end of 2023. Based on our strong performance this quarter and our current pipelines, we believe there is a clearer line of sight to a NIM on our existing balance sheet of over 3.60% by the end of 2023. Next, I will turn to expenses. We expect core cash operating expenses excluding intangible amortization for the final quarter of the year to be around $66 million Finally, we expect the tax rate for the final quarter of 2026 to be 28.5%. With that, I will turn the call back to Shannon, and we will be happy to take your questions. Operator: Thank you. To ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Our first question comes from the line of Stephen Moss with Raymond James. Your line is now open. Stephen Moss: Good morning. A nice quarter. Stuart H. Lubow: Hey, Steven. How are you? Steven. Stephen Moss: Doing well. Maybe just starting here on the margin, Avinash. You know, with that 3.60% margin by the end of 27, just kinda curious. I mean, obviously, rates are higher here. You know, we have some spread compression across the industry. Maybe just a little updated thoughts in terms of dynamics here around that. Around your assumptions to that 3.60% margin? Avinash Reddy: Yes. I so I just wanna be clear. We are actually increasing the NIM guidance here. So I take your comment. Well, you know, across the industry, there have been some spread compression. We are not seeing that here. You know,, we have been able to maintain our cost of deposits very close to that you know, 1.68% area as we, you know, 3 weeks into the quarter here, there is been a couple of basis points drift up in deposit costs, but it is actually lower than what we thought. And then on the loan side, in our press release, the weighted average rate on loans was around 5.50%. We have seen that expand to 5.58% right now sitting out today. So I think we are we are even more confident sitting here today than we were 3 months back, which is why we increased the guidance both from a, you know, NIM perspective as well as from a NII perspective, And I think that is just a testament to the quality of the deposit base that we have. At the bank. The new deposits that are coming into the bank, as well as, you know, all of the new business lines that you know, Tom's put in place over the last year and a half, which are now coming to coming to fruition. Stuart H. Lubow: Yeah. You have to remember, you know, our core DDA now, non-interest bearing DDA is now up to over 32%. And it is continuing to grow The private bankers continue to bring in, you know, new customers and new clients. New relationships. So we are we are we are very, excited about where we are in terms of you know, our core funding abilities. And then on the on the loan side, with all the teams in place now and the verticals in place, the pipeline is very strong, and they are also bringing a nice chunk of deposits in as well. So, you know, we are we are very that the, you know, we are going to continue seeing NIM expansion you know, at these levels. Right. Stephen Moss: And just to just tap the marginal further in terms of, if I recall correctly, it is about $2.5 billion of fixed rate loans at around 4.25% type percent. That will reprice next year. You guys gonna think of that, like, up 200 bps at this point? Avinash Reddy: Yeah. No. So $2.5 billion was the number last quarter, Steven. So you have to roll that forward. So we have had 1 quarter of 1 of those 6 quarters has gone away. So we are closer to $2 billion right now, and the rate on those remaining loans around 4.40% at this point. So there is still around 200 basis points off of that, you know, in terms an improvement. You know, as Stuart said, you know, early on, our pipeline rate right now has actually gone up to 6.50%. So, you know, there should be probably, you know, 10 to 25 basis point increase on that on that $2 billion Now all of that is not going to stay with us. Some of that is going to, you know, refi out of the bank. Some of it is gonna stay with us. But I think we showed this quarter that we are able to grow overall loans keeping in mind the reduction in the multifamily portfolio as well. So you should see you know, the repricing benefit as well as, you know, continued growth in the overall loan portfolio at a low mid single digit growth rate that we talked about last time around. Stuart H. Lubow: Yeah. I mean, in the previous quarters, you have been seeing about a $150 to a $175 million of commercial real estate move out. So you gotta. You have to assume that will that will continue most likely And, you know, it is been about $150 million a quarter of multifamily that has been prepaying or paying off and refinancing out. So we are still seeing the same. Those same metrics although in a higher rate environment, they might it might slow down a little bit. Stephen Moss: Okay. The that is helpful, and that was going to my next question. And then maybe just on the core deposit growth here, it was really strong this quarter. Kind of curious how you are thinking about the cadence here on growth and you know, just any color you can give there. Avinash Reddy: Yep. I mean, it is a. Steven, typically, the third and fourth quarters of the year are our best quarters due to seasonality, the East End, you know,, some of our, you know, private bankers in terms of the type of business mix that they have. So I would say there was nothing in the numbers in Q3 that we expect to go away in Q4. So it is a good starting point. And then we have started the quarter reasonably here. So I would say, you know, kind of hard to predict in individual quarters where we go. Q1, generally, we do see some outflows, but I think, you know, Q4 should steadily build off of off of Q3. Stephen Moss: Okay. I appreciate all the color here, and I will step back in the queue guys. Stuart H. Lubow: Thank you very much. Thanks, Steven. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open. Manuel Navas: Good morning. Stuart H. Lubow: Hey, Manuel. Manuel Navas: Hear you on the low single-digits, mid-single-digits growth pace. It was really strong this quarter. Can you talk a little bit about the mix this quarter and how it accelerated a bit? And I guess the pace should maybe slow a little bit in the fourth quarter, can you just talk about the growth trajectory and what businesses drove it most? Thomas X. Geisel: Yeah. Sure. So a couple of things. So if you go back and take a look at the year, right, on the business loan side, Q1 net loan growth was about $125 million, Q2 was $275 million, and then Q3 was $350 million. So nice chronology of growth across, you know, across the year and across the quarters. The fourth quarter, I think, is probably gonna be flat to where we were in this quarter. Q1 tends to be lower just by the nature of the business. Q2 and Q3 tends to be stronger. As you know, in banking. And Q4 just depends on the old the overall economic environment and the momentum. So we feel pretty good about where we think we will end the year. To Stu's point about $929 million or so growth year over year, what we are really happy about is the diversity of that growth. Our C&I business, our traditional c and I business led the way at about 25%. Then when you start to add in some of the new specialty finance businesses we put in place, like 20%. So really happy. We did have 1 business that, you know, pretty much outshined the others. And when you look about the quarter, the quarter had about 1-third growth from C&I, followed by fund finance and then the balance of the other specialty groups fell behind. So real diverse, business growth across the year and across the quarter. Avinash Reddy: Hey, Manuel, let me just add a couple of things, right? I think our guidance still, when you go back to last quarter and think about the balance sheet and 3 different pieces. So on the business loan front, you know, really somewhere between $200 and $250 million every quarter. This quarter, we were at $350 million, so probably a little bit higher in terms of the run rate. Multifamily piece, we still expect around $500 million of runoff on that piece. And then what changed this quarter, which is why overall loans grew, is we are back in the commercial real estate market doing relationship CRE. CRE balances were down, you know, only $10 or $15 million quarter. We probably originated $100 million this quarter. You know, nice spreads, nice LTVs, nice debt service. So that should continue going forward. So where the variable is gonna be going forward is you know, business loans, you know, some quarters, it may be closer to 200, some quarters, maybe closer to $250 million, some it may be closer to 300, over there. But if you put all of that together, you come back to that, you know, low to mid single digits for the next 6 to 9 months. Manuel Navas: Great. And that $500 million multifamily decline, that gets you towards that 25% longer term target. No shift there. In essence, on the mix projected going forward. Avinash Reddy: Yeah. I mean, it is probably a little bit less than 25%. I mean, right now, we are at 27%. So, you know, I would I would use $500 million off of the current numbers, basically. Manuel Navas: I appreciate I appreciate that. And is there any other color you could add on kind of the deposit growth, which was so strong, kind of what areas that came from most? I know you talked a little bit about the private banker business mix. Talked a little bit about the trajectory over the course of the year. But just what businesses led it most and where there might be some competition? Avinash Reddy: Yeah. I mean, where were the only growing deposits is just business deposits. Right? So if you if you look at our base, right now, it is probably 70% to 75% of the base is business deposits. And consumer deposits are 25%. The consumer piece this time last year was 30%. You know, this time, 2 years back, was probably 35%. So we are actually seeing, you know, small declines on the consumer side because we are not the high rate payers out there for consumer deposits. Which really means business deposits are growing at an even faster pace. Right? So we did hire, you know, 3 teams earlier this year in April. They are doing, you know, really well in line with our projection projections. So they have, you know, it takes a little bit of time, you know, for teams to get going, but they were you know, good contributor to third quarter growth. Our municipal business did really well in the third quarter. Our branches did well. So I would say look. We think we have got the best footprint in our in our area. We have got the best bankers. We have got the best branch network. We have we have hired the best private bankers. So it is really the people that we have, and we. And Stuart said we are able to do this with you know, growing DDA. Right? So you will bring in core operating accounts I mean, we have opened. You know, over the course of this year, we have opened over 6 thousand accounts, So a lot of what is coming in now is, you know, the work that was done over the last 3 to 6 months, and we continue to see that accounting opening process not stop. So I think, you know, this quarter was a, you know, especially strong in the third quarter, but, you know, fourth quarter, you know, we will have to see where we end up at. I will say we have been able to manage the cost of funds really well, and we are not really seeing a creep up in that in that yet. Manuel Navas: Yeah. That does bode well. And my last question is you have added now Staten Island with the transaction today. You have grown an affordable business. Vertical. What is remaining for where you would like to add density? Perhaps another team by next April. What is it you are looking at next as like to have in terms of a new lending vertical or a new geographic area you would like to invest in? Stuart H. Lubow: Look. I think we have kind of accomplished what we were set out to do in terms of verticals and business lines. You know, we have been opportunistic, when the opportunity arises and people. And talented people become available, we have we have taken the opportunity to bring them on board, and we have been successful at it. The same thing with private banking teams, There are probably still a few out there that we would be interested in. I think overall, strategically, I think it is really now you know, we are. We need to operate on all cylinders and get things cranking. And I think we are we are really about there. You know, a lot of these teams have been on for quite a while, their pipelines are growing And that is why you are seeing, you know, the results in terms of loan originations and closing. So, you know, there strategically, I think we are really in a spot where we really have to execute and grow the business. And I think we have the horses and the and the manpower to do that now. So, I mean, I do not see any significant moves away from that. We will be opportunistic if an opportunity arises in terms of teams or verticals. Thomas X. Geisel: Yeah. I think, you know, 1 thing to think about is when you bring a new team on, it takes some anywhere from a year to 18 months to really get their footing. And you can tell by the loan growth results many of those teams are just starting to get there now. So it is nice to see that the investment that we put into the business a year or so ago is starting to come to fruition. We would just wanna keep pushing that for now. Focusing on the organic side. Avinash Reddy: Yeah. Manuel, I just round it out by saying we are very focused on getting our profitability to a level by the back half of 27. Where you are talking about, you know, an ROA in excess of 1.31% at that point. And so you saw this quarter with, you know, the efficiency ratios, you know, sub-48% at this point. We have updated our NIM guidance where, you know, we think NIM guidance is gonna be over 3.60% at that point. So we have we have made all the investments. You know, anything, you know, going forward is probably, you know, marginal and you know, and pays for itself pretty quick. But as Stuart said, right now, it is about execution and driving the profitability to reflect the value in our deposit base, which still not still not in terms of the overall profitability because there is so much repricing assets that we have over the next, you know, 5 quarters. Manuel Navas: I really appreciate the commentary. Thank you. Stuart H. Lubow: Thank you. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of David Konrad with KBW. Your line is now open. David Konrad: Great. Thanks. Good morning. Just wanna talk about credit for a little bit. You mentioned, classified and special. I mentioned was down high single digits. But you also mentioned the NPA, growth was pretty strong this quarter. Looks like partially in business loans and in multifamily. So maybe a little bit of color of the NPA moves and then maybe expectations in the fourth quarter for provisions and maybe NPAs as well? Avinash Reddy: Yeah. Sure. I will I will take that, David. So on the CRM side, we had 1 relationship. This has been substandard for a couple of years with us. We took, you know, $6 million specific reserve on this. We have some collateral behind it as well. So feel pretty well secured over there. Person was involved, you know, in property management, you know, kind of tied to the tied to the real estate space over there. On the multifamily side, 1 relationship, this had been in the 60 to 89 day bucket for the last 2 years. Slow paying relationship, and so we kind of charged that down and, you know, got an updated appraisal on that. So I would say look, it is part and parcel of the business that we have. You know, substandard loans were down 7%. The 30 to 89 day bucket was down substantially. You will see those disclosures in the 10-Q when we when we put that out. Look, I would just say overall in terms of, you know, provisioning levels, we would probably expect something similar to the last couple of quarters for the next couple of quarters. Our goal really is to get the earnings stream of this company to a, you know, 1.31% plus ROA by the back half of 2027. So I do not think we should be operating at a $13 million to $15 million provision level more than a couple of quarters. But, you know, I think for the next couple of quarters, that is not unreasonable. Just given, you know, we would just like to work out some of these credits And it really depends. Right? Certain situations, know, you sell the loan and you move on. that is the best, you know, lowest cost option for the bank. In other situations, you take a specific reserve and you do a longer term workout. So I am not really gonna comment on, you know, projections for, you know, different type of credit quality What I will say is we feel pretty well resolved with what we have right now. We have got a pretax pre provision earnings of 1.85% basis points. Could be some choppiness next couple of quarters, but I think by the time we get to the back half of 2027, we feel pretty good about you know, earning stream of the company on a. You know, including provisions. David Konrad: Great. Thank you. And then 1 more You know, the operating leverage story here has been pretty remarkable, and you are at an efficiency ratio, you know, roughly around 48%, a little bit better than 48%. Know expenses are going up a little bit for the fourth quarter, but is that sustainable? It feels like it is when you are talking about more than 30 bps better NIM expansion next year. So like, how much can you drive that operating leverage? Avinash Reddy: Yes. I would use that $66 million as a, you know, reasonable run rate for next year. And then if you assume, you know, a 3%, 4%-ish regular amount increase type stuff, Look. It depends. Right? I think we have done the heavy lifting on the expense side in terms of building out the infrastructure to support the private bank. We have opened, you know, 2 new branches. We have gone into New Jersey. We have added a lot of teams underneath Tom. So I think all of that is done. So going forward, you know, our goal is to get, you know, that 48% down to, you know, 45%. And lower than 45% down the road. So I think, you know, expenses are what they are. You know, I think with you know, additional scale with the Empire deal, which we have not talked about, you know, that should help the efficiency ratio as well. Given, you know, given the fact that, you know, a lot of the back office you know, we are able to support with what we have right here. So we should see that, you know, continuing to trend down over time, you know, mainly driven by revenue growth. David Konrad: Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Stuart H. Lubow: Thank you. Operator: As a reminder to ask a question at this time, please press star 1 on your touch-tone telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese with Stephens. Your line is now open. Matthew Breese: Hey, good morning. A few questions for me. Just starting on the NPA pickup you know, within multifamily, you know, how much of that was tied to the rent regulated space? And, Avinash, maybe you could give us just an update on the health of that portfolio from a NPL and delinquency standpoint And then secondly, know, I was just curious. I heard you on substandard. What did classified loans do this quarter? And any kind of directional change there? Avinash Reddy: Yeah. Sure. So the relationship this quarter, Matt, that was rent regulated the NPS that we have in the book are all rent regulated on the multifamily side. Anything that is free market, you know, we do not have anything there that is NPA at this point. I would say, look, overall, we are monitoring the portfolio, you know, very closely. What we really spend a lot of time on is, you know, there is a billion dollars-ish, you know, overall of rent regulated, which is over 50% basically is how we how we characterize it. Right? So that portfolio, you know, this past quarter, there was probably around $40 million of a decline in that. So we are seeing a steady decline in that portfolio. Specifically in the multifamily portfolio. So classified actually is substandard. that is the definition. Right? So in that particular portfolio on the multifamily side, we probably have overall, we have around $135 million of substandard. Last quarter, it is down to probably $125 million. This quarter. So we are not we are not seeing any pickup there. I think we know our portfolio. We know what we have got. There will, you know, could there be some, you know, hits over time? Sure. But by and large, it is very manageable. You know, our average loan size is around $3.5 million in the overall multifamily portfolio on the rent regulated side, it is less than that. Pre-2019 portfolio that, you know,, we keep our eyes on is down to $275 million So we feel good about that. You know, it is it is it is winding down. it is not a growth part of our business. We are not doing any new rent regulated loans at this point. And I think, you know, we have reached the point where our earnings power is so strong that, you know, we will work through anything that comes up over time. Matthew Breese: Great. I appreciate all that. And then just on deposit cost, Avinash, I heard you say it is coming in better than expected. I am just curious, as you think about that 3.60% or north NIM you know, by year end 2027, what kind of deposit beta are you anticipating? Avinash Reddy: Yes. I think the on the first rate hike that happened, Matthew, you know, we have not seen much over there. You know, there is there is, you know, obviously clients we have moved. I think you know, as we see a pickup in rate increases, you are gonna see, you know, the beta be a bit higher on the deposit side. I do not think it is gonna be any different than, you know, on the way down. The 1 difference I think is that, you know, the DDA that we have. I mean, right now, it is real DDA. it is real operating accounts. it is real stuff that is been coming into the bank. So I think the last time around rates went to 5%, the issue that a lot of banks had was there is a lot of migration out of DDA into interest bearing. We just do not see that happening. This time around. Right? So I think for the for the second rate hike, if there is 1 in, you know, October or December, you will see, you know, a bigger pickup than the first hike. But on the first hike here, you know, we ended the quarter with the cost of deposits of 1.68%. We are sitting up today at, you know, 1.72% plus or minus. And there will be a little bit more creep, you know, off the 1.72%, but not substantial. I do think on the second and third, it will probably pick up a little bit off of that. Which is why if you go back to my guidance on the NIM, we said the first rate hike was probably a couple basis points accretive to NIM. And then once you get to the second 1, we are probably more neutral on NIM at that point. Matthew Breese: Yep. That makes sense. And then the other, you know, tying also tying to the NIM outlook you guys are sitting on a lot of cash. I think it is up to 14% of total assets. Can you help me out with kind of the deployment strategy there and time frame for deployment? And within that ROA target you have and the 3.60% NIM guide? You know, what is the cash as a percentage of assets look like? Avinash Reddy: Yeah. So I think we would like the cash position because it keeps us neutral to, you know, short term rates. At this point. In the third quarter, we did not buy any securities. So, I think we would like to have a little bit more visibility into where rates you know, end up at before, you know, jumping in and buying securities. I think that 3.60% really does not assume know, much deployment of the cash position. it is just, you know, off $2 billion-odd of, you know, maturing and repricing loans, if you assume let's call it $1.7 billion, $1.8 billion of that, you know, you can reprice up 200, 225 basis points. That itself should get us you know, 25 basis points -- 20, 25 base points of NIM, you know, off of that. I think that the cash deployment, that is something over and above that. But if you come back to our loan growth assumptions, we have said low to mid single digit growth on the loan side. And we are growing deposits you know, faster than a low to mid single digit growth. So that would really mean there is more cash. On the balance sheet. Right? So long story short, it does not does not really capture that. I think that is upside in the NIM. And another way to look at it is if we did deploy it, the 3.60% is more like, you know, 3.80%, 3.90% if we ran with the loan to deposit ratio closer to 90% to 95%. Matthew Breese: Okay. Do you think cash could build from here? I did not really anticipate that, but it sounds like you might be leading me there. Avinash Reddy: No. Look. If you look at it this quarter, the loan to deposit rate went down even though we grew loans because we grew deposits fast. Right? So it is a possibility, but, you know, we will you know, deal with it as it comes. Stuart H. Lubow: Yeah. I. Once we get to a point, Matthew, where we are comfortable with our CRE ratio, and, you know, we are back in the CRE business today. On a selective basis. You know, you will see larger loan growth and then the deployment of the cash. But at this point, you are still seeing net runoff on the commercial real estate side, both on the multifamily and obviously on the on the know, straight commercial real estate. Once that kind of levels out, that is. At that point, and we expect that toward, you know, mid to late 27. You will start to see, you know, more significant loan growth and deployment of more cash. Matthew Breese: Okay. Last 1 for me, Avinash. Just on the deal, there is a few numbers I was hoping you could help me out with. Maybe forecasted cost saves, a percentage you are using for CDI, and then the credit interest rate marks. Oh, and once it is-- so that is the-- sorry. Avinash Reddy: Yeah. Sure. So the deal size is pretty small. Right? You know, 4% of our asset base. So I think overall, we expect to run this at a ROA well in excess of 2% at the bank. We fully factor in cost savings over there. You know, the rate mark and credit mark, you know, you probably end up, you know, somewhere close to, you know, somewhere between 4% to 5% plus or minus, including the rate and credit mark. Obviously, you know, rates are elevated, so it depends on what point in time you do it. We kind of assume, you know, the worst case where, you know, the 5 year was at was at, you know, 5%. I think if you include that, it is probably, you know, somewhere between 4.5% and 5% rate and credit put together on it. You know, in terms of the CDI assumption, yeah, I will just use 3% you know, on the core deposits on that. Then, you know, deal costs, you know, they probably should be in the, you know, $12 to $13 million area plus or minus on a pretax basis. Matthew Breese: I will leave it there. Thank you for taking all my questions. Appreciate it. Stuart H. Lubow: Okay. Thanks, Matt. Avinash Reddy: Thank you. Operator: And I am currently showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Stuart Lubow for closing remarks. Stuart H. Lubow: Thank you, Shannon, and thank you all and our dedicated employees and our shareholders for their continued support. We look forward to speaking with you after our fourth quarter. Operator: This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in Dime Commercial Bancshares, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Dime Commercial Bancshares wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Dime Commercial (DCOM) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-20What Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call
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What Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call
- Interested in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. - Record growth and profitability: Dime reported $135 million in record third-quarter revenue, a 53% year-over-year increase in EPS, a 1.10% return on assets and a core efficiency ratio below 48%. Business loans grew 30% year over year, while core deposits increased by $1.1 billion. - Margins expected to keep expanding: Reported net interest margin rose to 3.35%, marking 10 consecutive quarters of expansion. Management raised its longer-term outlook, expecting balance-sheet NIM to exceed 3.60% by the end of 2027 as roughly $2 billion of loans reprice at higher rates. - Empire State Bank acquisition: Dime agreed to acquire the Staten Island-based bank, adding approximately $600 million in assets and extending its branch presence across all five New York City boroughs. The deal is expected to be about 3.5% accretive to earnings after synergies, with an internal rate of return above 20%. - Time To Buy Regional Banks? Insider Buying Says Yes Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) reported record third-quarter revenue of $135 million and said earnings per share increased 53% from a year earlier, as the company continued to expand its business-lending platform, grow core deposits and improve its net interest margin. President and CEO Stuart Lubow said the bank's third-quarter return on assets was 1.10% and its core efficiency ratio fell below 48%. Net interest margin, or NIM, increased 7 basis points sequentially as Dime maintained its deposit costs while improving loan yields. → Berkshire Just Backed This Little-Known Stock—Should You Chase It? "Dime's organic growth trajectory is very strong," Lubow said, pointing to growth in low-cost deposits, diversification beyond commercial real estate lending and investments in hiring bankers and specialized lending teams. Dime said business loans increased approximately $929 million, or 30%, from the prior year. Its loan pipeline stood at about $1.4 billion with a weighted average rate of approximately 6.5%. → These 3 Green Stocks Have a Growth Story That Goes Far Beyond Washington Chief Commercial Officer Tom Geisel said business-loan growth accelerated throughout the year, with net growth of roughly $125 million in the first quarter, $275 million in the second quarter and $350 million in the third quarter. Traditional commercial and i…Read full documentShow less
- Interested in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. - Record growth and profitability: Dime reported $135 million in record third-quarter revenue, a 53% year-over-year increase in EPS, a 1.10% return on assets and a core efficiency ratio below 48%. Business loans grew 30% year over year, while core deposits increased by $1.1 billion. - Margins expected to keep expanding: Reported net interest margin rose to 3.35%, marking 10 consecutive quarters of expansion. Management raised its longer-term outlook, expecting balance-sheet NIM to exceed 3.60% by the end of 2027 as roughly $2 billion of loans reprice at higher rates. - Empire State Bank acquisition: Dime agreed to acquire the Staten Island-based bank, adding approximately $600 million in assets and extending its branch presence across all five New York City boroughs. The deal is expected to be about 3.5% accretive to earnings after synergies, with an internal rate of return above 20%. - Time To Buy Regional Banks? Insider Buying Says Yes Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) reported record third-quarter revenue of $135 million and said earnings per share increased 53% from a year earlier, as the company continued to expand its business-lending platform, grow core deposits and improve its net interest margin. President and CEO Stuart Lubow said the bank's third-quarter return on assets was 1.10% and its core efficiency ratio fell below 48%. Net interest margin, or NIM, increased 7 basis points sequentially as Dime maintained its deposit costs while improving loan yields. → Berkshire Just Backed This Little-Known Stock—Should You Chase It? "Dime's organic growth trajectory is very strong," Lubow said, pointing to growth in low-cost deposits, diversification beyond commercial real estate lending and investments in hiring bankers and specialized lending teams. Dime said business loans increased approximately $929 million, or 30%, from the prior year. Its loan pipeline stood at about $1.4 billion with a weighted average rate of approximately 6.5%. → These 3 Green Stocks Have a Growth Story That Goes Far Beyond Washington Chief Commercial Officer Tom Geisel said business-loan growth accelerated throughout the year, with net growth of roughly $125 million in the first quarter, $275 million in the second quarter and $350 million in the third quarter. Traditional commercial and industrial lending led year-to-date business-loan growth, rising about 25%, while newer specialty finance businesses—including lender finance, fund finance, sponsor finance and healthcare—collectively contributed about 20%. Management expects business-loan growth of roughly $200 million to $250 million per quarter under its broader outlook, though quarterly results may vary. The bank also resumed selectively originating relationship commercial real estate loans during the quarter, producing about $100 million of originations with what CFO and COO Avi Reddy described as favorable spreads, loan-to-value ratios and debt-service characteristics. → Broadcom's CEO Sees Years of AI Demand But Warns of a Bigger Threat to the Boom Core deposits grew $1.1 billion year over year. Reddy said approximately 70% to 75% of Dime's deposit base is now business deposits, while consumer deposits represent about 25%. The company opened more than 6,000 accounts during the year and said recently hired banking teams, its municipal business and branches contributed to third-quarter deposit growth. Lubow said noninterest-bearing demand deposits now account for more than 32% of core deposits. Dime's cash position exceeded $2 billion at quarter-end, which management views as a competitive advantage for future lending opportunities. Core EPS was $0.91 in the third quarter, while core pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue was $70 million, or 186 basis points of average assets, Reddy said. Reported NIM was 3.35%; excluding purchase-accounting benefits and prepayment fees, the company said run-rate NIM was approximately 3.32%, compared with 3.22% in the prior quarter. Dime has now posted 10 consecutive quarters of NIM expansion, according to Reddy. The bank expects further expansion in the fourth quarter, driven mainly by loan repricing and, to a lesser extent, the September Federal Reserve rate increase. Management raised its longer-term outlook and now expects NIM on the existing balance sheet to exceed 3.60% by the end of 2027, compared with its previous expectation of more than 3.50%. Reddy said deposit costs remained close to 1.68% early in the fourth quarter, with a modest increase to roughly 1.72% at the time of the call, while weighted average loan yields had risen to approximately 5.58%. The company has about $2 billion of loans remaining to reprice over the coming quarters at an average rate around 4.40%. Reddy said those loans could reprice 210 to 225 basis points higher, although some borrowers may refinance elsewhere. Management expects overall loan growth in the low- to mid-single digits over the next six to nine months. Dime announced a definitive agreement to acquire Empire State Bank, a Staten Island-based commercial bank with approximately $600 million in assets. Lubow said the transaction will give Dime a ground-level branch presence in Staten Island and extend its footprint across all five boroughs of New York City. Empire has a granular, low-cost deposit base and a loan portfolio with low loan-to-value ratios, according to management. Dime plans to use $30 million of cash in the transaction, representing slightly more than half of the consideration. Reddy said the transaction is expected to be about 3.5% accretive to earnings on a run-rate basis after all anticipated synergies are realized. The company expects the deal to reduce capital ratios by approximately 35 basis points after accounting for deal costs and interest-rate marks under an elevated-rate scenario. Pre-tax deal costs are expected to be approximately $12 million to $13 million. Management said the acquisition's internal rate of return is expected to exceed 20% and that Dime's pro forma capital levels should continue to support organic growth and share repurchases. Dime recorded a $13.8 million loan-loss provision, unchanged from the prior quarter, and increased its allowance for credit losses to 99 basis points of loans. The provision reflected specific reserves on commercial and industrial loans, business-loan growth and charge-offs on multifamily loans. Reddy said nonperforming assets increased during the quarter, including one commercial and industrial relationship that had been substandard for several years and received a $6 million specific reserve. On the multifamily side, the company charged down a long-standing slow-paying relationship after receiving an updated appraisal. All multifamily nonperforming assets are in rent-regulated properties, Reddy said, while the company has no nonperforming loans in its free-market multifamily portfolio. Substandard loans declined 7% sequentially, and 30- to 89-day past-due loans also declined. Management expects provisions to remain near recent levels for the next couple of quarters while it works through certain credits. The company reduced its commercial real estate concentration ratio to 338% while repurchasing about 1% of shares outstanding. Dime expects core cash operating expenses, excluding intangible amortization, of about $66 million in the fourth quarter and cited that figure as a reasonable run-rate starting point for 2027. Management's longer-term objective is to reduce the efficiency ratio toward 45% and ultimately below that level, primarily through revenue growth and operating scale. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the parent company of Dime Community Bank, a community-focused commercial bank serving businesses, individuals and local organizations. The bank provides deposit accounts, commercial and residential real estate lending, multifamily and small-business financing, consumer loans, treasury and cash-management services, and wealth-management solutions. Dime Community Bank's market is concentrated primarily in Long Island and the New York City metropolitan area, including Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "What Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for October 2026.
TranscriptFY2026 Q32026-10-20FY2026 Q3 earnings call transcript
Earnings source - 84 paragraphs
FY2026 Q3 earnings call transcript
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Dime Commercial Bancshares, Inc third quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that discussions during this call contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements, including as set forth in today's press release and the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to which we refer you. During this call, references will be made to non-GAAP financial measures as supplemental measures to review and assess operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared and presented in accordance with the U.S. GAAP. For information about these non-GAAP measures and for reconciliation to GAAP, please refer to today's earnings release. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stuart Lubow, President and CEO. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you, Shannon, and thank you all for joining us this morning for our third quarter earnings call. With me today are Avi Reddy, our Chief Operating Officer and CFO, and Tom Geisel, our Chief Commercial Officer. In my prepared remarks, I will touch upon the progress we made in the third quarter. I will provide summary of our acquisition of Empire State Bank. Avi will then provide financial details for the third quarter and the financial impact of the Empire transaction. Suffice to say, Dime's organic growth trajectory is very strong, and we have clearly differentiated our franchise from our local competitors as it relates to our ability to grow low cost and best-in-class deposits, diversify our loan portfolio away from its historical CRE focus, attract talented bankers, and at the same time improve NIM and grow net interest income and overall profitability.
Revenues for the third quarter were $135 million, which once again was a record for Dime. EPS was up 53% versus prior year. The NIM was up seven basis points versus the linked quarter, as we were able to maintain our cost of deposits while improving our yield on loans. On the loan front, we are executing well and our growth plans are in place. Year-over-year growth in business loans was approximately $929 million, which represents 30% year-over-year increase. Our loan pipeline continues to be very strong and is approximately $1.4 billion with a weighted average rate of approximately 6.5%. We are pleased to report a return on assets of 1.10% for the third quarter and a core efficiency ratio of below 48%.
As you know, we have been very active on the hiring front over the past few years, and it's gratifying to see these investments contributing to the improved profitability. We continue to believe that the hires we have made over the last few years have a long runway in front of them as we execute our clearly articulated growth plan. The disruption in our local marketplace remains very high, and the environment for our organic growth strategy as it relates to acquiring clients and bankers continues to be very attractive. In this regard, we are pleased to announce our entry into the affordable housing space with the launch of a dedicated group that will be led by Mike Camoia. Finally, as it relates to profitability, our significant loan repricing opportunity over the next five quarters will continue to serve as a catalyst for continued revenue growth in the quarters ahead.
During the quarter, we reduced our CRE ratio to 338% while repurchasing approximately 1% of our shares outstanding. We continue to see significant long-term value in our shares underpinned by continued NIM expansion and net interest income growth. Avi will provide some color on capital in his prepared remarks. This morning, we announced that we signed a definitive agreement to acquire Empire State Bank. We are very pleased to welcome CEO Phil Guarnieri and his team to Dime. By way of background, Empire is a $600 million asset sized commercial bank with a very granular low-cost deposit base that is headquartered in Staten Island. Dime has had our eye on having a greater ground level branch presence in Staten Island for a long time, and we believe Empire is a very low risk transaction for our shareholders, given their granular deposit base and low-risk LTV loan portfolio.
The transaction expands Dime's presence to all five boroughs of New York City, and we believe Empire's granular deposit base will have real value in a higher rate environment. Empire represented a unique opportunity for Dime and a transaction economics and strategic rationale makes sense for both sets of shareholders. With that said, I will end by saying our focus remains on strong organic growth as seen by our $1.1 billion year-over-year growth in core deposits. Our significant cash position, which stood at over $2 billion at quarter end, positions us very favorably for organic growth, and we expect to benefit from meaningful loan repricing over the next five quarters.
I want to end by thanking all our dedicated employees for their efforts and in positioning Dime as the best commercial bank in metro New York. With that, I will turn the call over to Avi Reddy.
Thank you, Stu. Core EPS for the third quarter was $0.91 per share. Core pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue of $70 million represented 186 basis points of average assets. By maintaining a strong focus on cost of funds management and the growth of our business loan portfolio, our NIM has now increased for 10 consecutive quarters. The reported third quarter NIM increased to 335. Excluding the benefits from purchase accounting and prepayment fees, the run-rate NIM for the third quarter would have been closer to 332 compared to a 322 run rate for the prior quarter. Average earning assets for the third quarter was approximately $14.36 million. Core cash operating expenses of approximately $64.3 million was in line with our expectations. The loan loss provision was in line with the prior quarter at $13.8 million, and the allowance to loans increased to 99 basis points.
The loan loss provision in the quarter was primarily to cover specific reserves on C&I loans, growth in the business loan portfolio, and charge-offs on multifamily loans. While NPAs were up, substandard loans were down 7% on a linked-quarter basis, and in addition, 30-89 days past due loans also declined on a linked-quarter basis. As Stu mentioned, we reduced our CRE concentration ratio to 338%, while at the same time repurchasing approximately 1% of our shares outstanding. We believe that robust growth in our C&I businesses and operating with a CRE ratio that is lower than 350% will set us apart from the other local banks, which are operating between 375%-450%, and Dime will be rewarded in the medium to longer term with a higher valuation.
Our strong capital position allowed us to structure the Empire transaction with a $30 million cash component, which represents a little more than 50% of the consideration mix for the transaction. The transaction's return metrics for Dime are very strong, with an internal rate of return well in excess of 20%, which is above our cost of capital. The transaction is expected to be approximately 3.5% accretive to earnings on a run-rate basis once all synergies have been realized. We expect the impact on our capital ratios from the Empire deal to be approximately 35 basis points, factoring in the full impact of one-time deal costs and the interest rate marks in an elevated rate scenario. Finally, our pro forma capital levels provide us room for both organic growth as well as continued buybacks. Turning next to forward guidance.
As usual, while we will not provide any specific guidance on 2027 until our January earnings call, I will provide some thoughts on the remainder of 2026. As I mentioned previously, excluding purchase accounting and prepayment fees, the run rate NIM for the third quarter would have been closer to 332. We would use this 332 NIM as a starting point for modeling purposes going forward. We expect continued NIM expansion in the fourth quarter, driven primarily by loan repricing and secondarily from the recent Federal Reserve rate increase. With respect to rate hikes, we expect the September rate hike to benefit NIM by a couple of basis points, and any future rate hikes will likely be neutral to NIM as they will be a lagging effect on deposit costs.
We have repeatedly said our large cash position is a competitive advantage that will allow us to take advantage of lending opportunities as they arise, and it will help us create a sustainable NIM that is not subject to cyclical moves based on the trajectory of short-term rates. While it is hard to predict the NIM in individual quarters and the path may not be in a straight line on equal increments, we are focused on the ultimate destination by the fourth quarter of 2027. On our prior earnings call, we discussed a run rate quarterly NIM of over 350 by the end of 2027. Based on our strong performance this quarter and our current pipelines, we believe there is a clearer line of sight to a NIM on our existing balance sheet of over 360 by the end of 2027. Next, I will turn to expenses.
We expect core cash operating expenses, excluding intangible amortization for the final quarter of the year to be around $66 million. Finally, we expect the tax rate for the final quarter of 2026 to be 28.5%. With that, I will turn the call back to Shannon, and we will be happy to take your questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Steve Moss with Raymond James. Your line is now open.
Good morning, and nice quarter.
Hi there, Steve. How are you?
Hey, Stu. Doing well. Maybe just starting here on the margin, Avi. With that 360 margin by the end of 2027, just kind of curious, obviously rates are higher here. We've seen some spread compression across the industry. Just maybe just a little updated thoughts in terms of dynamics here around your assumptions to that 360 margin.
Yes. I just want to be clear, we are actually increasing the NIM guidance here. Take your comment well. Across the industry, there have been some spread compression. We're not seeing that here. We've been able to maintain our cost of deposits very close to that 168 area as we three weeks into the quarter here. There's been a couple of basis points drift up in deposit costs, but it's actually lower than what we thought. And on the loan side, in our press release, the weighted average rate on loans was around 550. We've seen that expand to 558 right now sitting here today. I think we're even more confident sitting here today than we were three months back, which is why we increased the guidance both from a NIM perspective as well as from a NII perspective.
I think that's just a testament to the quality of the deposit base that we have at the bank, the new deposits that are coming into the bank, as well as all of the new business lines that Tom's put in place over the last year and a half, which are now coming to fruition.
Yeah, you've got to remember, our core DDA now, non-interest-bearing DDA, is now up to over 32%, and it's continuing to grow. The private banker is continuing to bring in new customers, new clients, new relationships. We're very excited about where we are in terms of our core funding abilities. Then on the loans side, with all the teams in place now and the verticals in place, the pipeline's very strong, and they're also bringing a nice chunk of deposits in as well. We're very comfortable that we're going to continue seeing NIM expansion at these levels.
Right. Just to tap the margin a little further, in terms of, if I recall correctly, it's about $2.5 billion of fixed rate loans at around 4.25% that'll reprice next year. Are you guys then thinking that like up 200 basis points at this point?
Yeah, no. The $2.5 billion was the number last quarter, Steve. You've got to roll that forward. We've had one quarter of, one of those six quarters has gone away. We're closer to $2 billion right now, and the rate on those remaining loans are around 440 at this point. Yeah, there's still around 200 basis points off of that, in terms of an improvement. As Stu said early on, our pipeline rate right now, it's actually gone up to 650. There should be probably a 210 basis points-225 basis point increase on that $2 billion. Now, all of that's not going to stay with us. Some of that's going to refi out of the bank. Some of it's going to stay with us.
But I think we showed this quarter that we're able to grow overall loans, keeping in mind the reduction in the multifamily portfolio as well. You should see the repricing benefit as well as continued growth in the overall loan portfolio at a low to mid-single-digit growth rate that we talked about last time around.
Yeah. In the previous quarters, you have been seeing about $150 million-$175 million of commercial real estate move out. You have to assume that that will continue, most likely. It has been about $150 million a quarter of multifamily has been prepaying or paying off and refinancing out. We are still seeing those same metrics. Although in a higher rate environment, it might slow down a little bit.
Okay. That is helpful there. That was going to be my next question. Then maybe just on the core deposit growth here. It was really strong this quarter. Just curious how you are thinking about the cadence here on growth and just any color you can give there.
Yep. Steve, typically the third and fourth quarters of the year are our best quarters, just given seasonality, the East End, some of our private banks in terms of the type of business mix that they have. I would say there is nothing in the numbers in Q3 that we expect to go away in Q4, so it is a good starting point. Then we have started the quarter reasonably here. I would say it is kind of hard to predict in individual quarters where we go. Q1, generally, we do see some outflows. I think Q4 should steadily build off of Q3.
Okay. I appreciate all the color here, and I will step back in the queue, guys. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Steve.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Manuel Navas with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.
Hey, Manuel.
Hey. I hear you on the low-single digits, mid-single digits growth pace. It was really strong this quarter. Can you talk a little bit about the mix this quarter? How it accelerated a bit? I guess the pace should maybe slow a little bit in the fourth quarter. But can you just talk about the growth trajectory and what businesses drove it most?
Yeah, sure. A couple of things. If you go back and take a look at the year on the business loan side, Q1 net-loan growth was about $125 million. Q2 was $275 million, and then Q3 was $350 million. So nice chronology of growth across the year and across the quarters. The fourth quarter, I think, is probably going to be flat to where we were in this quarter. Q1 tends to be lower just by the nature of the business. Q2 and Q3 tends to be stronger as you know in banking. Q4 just depends on the overall economic environment and the momentum. So we feel pretty good about where we think we'll end the year. To Stu's point about the $929 million or so growth year-over-year, what we're really happy about is the diversification of that growth.
Our C&I business, our traditional C&I business, led the way at about 25%. Then when you start to add in some of the new specialty finance businesses we put in place like lender finance, fund finance, sponsor finance, and healthcare, they all came in at about 20%. So we're really happy. We didn't have one business that pretty much outshined the others. When you look about the quarter, the quarter had about 1/3 growth from C&I, followed by fund finance, and then the balance of the other specialty groups fell behind. So real diverse business growth across the year and across the quarter.
Yeah, Manuel, I'd just add a couple of things, right? I think our guidance still, when you go back to last quarter, think about the balance sheet in three different pieces. So on the business loan front, really somewhere between $200 million and $250 million every quarter. This quarter we were at $350 million, so probably a little bit higher in terms of the run rate. The multifamily piece, we still expect around $500 million of runoff on that piece. Then what changed this quarter, which is why overall loans grew, is we're back in the commercial real estate market doing relationship CRE. CRE balances were down only $10 million or $15 million this quarter. We probably originated $100 million this quarter at nice spreads, nice LTVs, nice debt service. So that should continue going forward.
Where the variable is going to be going forward is business loans. Some quarters it may be closer to $200 million, some quarters it may be closer to $250 million, some it may be closer to $300 million over there. But when you put all of that together, you come back to that low to mid-single digits for the next probably six to nine months.
Great. That $500 million multifamily decline, that gets you towards that 25% longer term target. No shift there, in essence, on the mix projected going forward?
Yeah. It is probably a little bit less than 25%. Right now we are at 27%. So, I would use $500 million off the current numbers, basically.
I appreciate that. Is there any other color you could add on kind of the deposit growth, which was so strong? Kind of what areas that came from most? I know you talked a little bit about the private banker business mix, and you talked a little bit about the trajectory over the course of the year. But just what businesses led it most and where there might be some competition.
Yeah, where we're really growing deposits is just business deposits. If you look at our base, right now it's probably 70%-75% of the base is business deposits and consumer deposits are 25%. The consumer piece this time last year was 30%. This time two years back was probably 35%. We're actually seeing small declines on the consumer side because we're not the highest rate payers out there for consumer deposits, which really means business deposits are growing at an even faster pace. We did hire three teams earlier this year in April. They're doing really well in line with our projections. It takes a little bit of time for teams to get going, but they were a good contributor to third-quarter growth. Our municipal business did really well in the third quarter. Our branches did well.
I would say, look, we think we've got the best footprint in our area. We've got the best bankers. We've got the best branch network. We've hired the best private bankers. It's really the people that we have. Stu said we're able to do this with growing DDA. We're bringing in core operating accounts. Over the course of this year, we've opened over 6,000 accounts basically. A lot of what's coming in now is the work that was done over the last three to six months, and we continue to see that account opening process not stop. I think this quarter was especially strong in the third quarter. Fourth quarter, we'll have to see where we end up at.
I will say we have been able to manage the cost of funds really well, and we're not really seeing a creep up in that yet.
Yeah. That does bode well. My last question is, you've added now Staten Island with the transaction today. You've grown in the affordable business vertical. What is remaining for where you'd like to add density? Perhaps another team by next April. What is it you're looking at next as like to have in terms of a new lending vertical or a new geographic area you'd like to invest in?
Look, I think we've kind of accomplished what we were set out to do in terms of verticals and business lines. We've been opportunistic. When the opportunity arises and talented people become available, we've taken the opportunity to bring them on board, and we've been successful at it. The same thing with private banking teams. There are probably still a few out there that we'd be interested in. I think overall, strategically, it's really now we need to operate on all cylinders and get things cranking. I think we're really about there. A lot of these teams have been on for quite a while and their pipelines are growing, and that's why you're seeing the results in terms of loan originations and closings. Strategically, I think we're really in a spot where we really got to execute and grow the business.
I think we have the horses and the manpower to do that now. I don't see any significant moves away from that. We will be opportunistic if an opportunity arises in terms of teams or verticals.
Yeah, I think one thing to think about is when we bring a new team on, it takes them anywhere from a year to 18 months to really get their footing. You can tell by the loan growth results, many of those teams are just starting to get there now. It's nice to see that the investment that we put into the business a year or so ago is starting to come to fruition. We just want to keep pushing that for now and focusing on the organic side.
Yeah, Manuel, I'd just round it out by saying we're very focused on getting our profitability to a level by the back half of 2027, where you're talking about an ROA in excess of 130 at that point. You saw this quarter with the efficiency ratios sub 48% at this point. We've updated our NIM guidance where we think NIM guidance is going to be over 360 at that point. We've made all the investments. Anything going forward is probably marginal and pays for itself pretty quick. As Stu said, right now it's about execution and driving the profitability to reflect the value in our deposit base, which is still not in there in terms of the overall profitability because there's so much repricing assets that we have over the next five quarters.
I really appreciate the commentary. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Konrad with KBW. Your line is now open.
Great. Thanks. Good morning. Just want to talk about credit for a little bit. You mentioned criticized and special mention was down high-single digits, but you also mentioned the NPA growth was pretty strong this quarter. Looks like partially in business loans and in multifamily. So maybe a little bit of color of the NPA moves and then maybe expectations in the fourth quarter for provisions and maybe NPAs as well.
Yes. I will take that, David. So on the C&I side, we had one relationship. This had been substandard for a couple of years with us. We took $6 million specific reserve on this. We have some collateral behind it as well. So we feel pretty well-secured over there. Person was involved in property management, kind of tied to the real estate space over there. On the multifamily side, one relationship, this had been in the 60-89-days bucket for the last two years. Slow-paying relationship, and so we kind of charged that down and got an updated appraisal on that. So I would say, look, it is part and parcel of the business that we have. Substandard loans were down 7%. The 30-89-days bucket was down substantially. You will see those disclosures in the 10-Q when we put that out.
Look, I would just say overall, in terms of provisioning levels, we would probably expect something similar to the last couple of quarters for the next couple of quarters. Our goal really is to get the earnings stream of this company to a 130+ ROA by the back half of 2027. I do not think we should be operating at a $13 million-$15 million provision level for more than a couple of quarters. But I think for the next couple of quarters, that is not unreasonable, just given we would just like to work out some of these credits. It really depends, right? Certain situations, you sell the loan and you move on. That is the best lowest cost option to the bank. In other situations, you take a specific reserve and you do a longer-term workout.
I am not really going to comment on projections for different type of credit quality metrics. What I will say is we feel pretty well reserved with what we have right now. We have got our pre-tax, pre-provision earnings is 185 basis points. Could be some choppiness next couple of quarters. But I think by the time we get to the back half of 2027, we feel pretty good about earnings stream of the company including provisions.
Great. Thank you. One more. The operating leverage story here has been pretty remarkable. You are at a ratio roughly around 48%, a little bit better than 48%. I know expenses are going up a little bit for the fourth quarter, but is that sustainable? It feels like it is when you are talking about more 30 basis points better NIM expansion next year. How much can you drive that operating leverage?
Yes, I would use that $66 million as a reasonable run rate for next year. Then if you assume 3%, 4%-ish regular merit increase type stuff. Look, it depends, right? I think we have done the heavy lifting on the expense side in terms of building out the infrastructure to support the private bank. We have opened two new branches. We have gone into New Jersey. We have added a lot of teams underneath Tom. I think all of that is done. Going forward, our goal is to get that 48% down to 45% and then lower than 45% down the road. I think expenses are what they are. I think with additional scale with the Empire deal, which we have not talked about, that should help the efficiency ratio as well given the fact that a lot of the back office we are able to support with what we have right here.
We should see that continuing to trend down over time, mainly driven by revenue growth.
Great. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question at this time, please press star one one on your touch-tone telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese with Stephens. Your line is now open.
Hey, good morning.
A few questions from me. Just starting on the NPA pickup, within multifamily, how much of that was tied to the rent-regulated space? Avi, maybe you could give us just an update on the health of that portfolio from an NPL and delinquency standpoint. Secondly, I was just curious, I heard you on substandard. What did classified loans do this quarter, and any kind of directional change there?
Yeah, sure. The relationship this quarter, Matt, that was rent-regulated, the NPAs that we have in the book are all rent-regulated on the multifamily side. Anything that's free market, we don't have anything there that's NPA at this point. I'd say, look, overall, we're monitoring the portfolio very closely. What we really spend a lot of time on is there's $1 billion-ish overall of rent-regulated, which is over 50%, basically is how we characterize it, right? That portfolio, this past quarter, there was probably around $40 million of a decline in that. So we're seeing a steady decline in that portfolio, specifically in the multifamily portfolio. Classified actually is substandard. That's the definition, right? So, in that particular portfolio on the multifamily side, overall, we have around $135 million of substandard. Last quarter, it's down to probably $125 million this quarter.
So we're not seeing any pickup there. I think we know our portfolio. We know what we got. Could there be some hits over time? Sure. But by and large, it's very manageable. Our average loan size is around $3.5 million in the overall multifamily portfolio. On the rent-regulated side, it's less than that. Our pre-2019 portfolio that we keep our eyes on is down $275 million. So we feel good about that. It's winding down. It's not a growth part of our business. We're not doing any new rent-regulated loans at this point. I think we've reached the point where our earnings power is so strong that we'll work through anything that comes up over time.
Great. I appreciate all that. Just on deposit cost, Avi, I heard you say it's coming in better than expected. I'm just curious, as you think about that 360 or north of NIM by year-end 2027, what kind of deposit beta are you anticipating?
Yeah. I think on the first rate hike that happened, Matt, we've not seen much over there. There's obviously clients we've moved. I think as we see a pickup in rate increases, you're going to see the beta be a bit higher on the deposit side. I don't think it's going to be any different than on the way down. The one difference I think is that the DDA that we have, right now it's real DDA, it's real operating accounts, it's real stuff that's been coming into the bank. I think the last time around rates went to 5%, the issue that a lot of banks had was there was a lot of migration out of DDA into interest-bearing. We just don't see that happening this time around, right?
I think for the second rate hike, if there's one in October or December, you'll see a bigger pickup than the first hike. But on the first hike here, we ended the quarter with the cost of deposits $1.68. We're sitting here today at $1.72±. And yeah, there'll be a little bit more creep off the $1.72, but not substantial. I do think on the second and third, it'll probably pick up a little bit off of that. Which is why if you go back to my guidance on the NIM, we said the first rate hike was probably a couple basis points accretive to NIM, and then once you get to the second one, we're probably more neutral on NIM at that point.
Yeah. No, that makes sense.
Yeah.
Also tying to the NIM outlook, you guys are sitting on a lot of cash, I think it's up to 14% of total assets. Can you help me out with kind of the deployment strategy there and timeframe for deployment? And within that ROA target you have and the 360 NIM guide, what does the cash as a percentage of assets look like?
Yeah. I think we like the cash position because it keeps us neutral to short-term rates at this point. In the third quarter, we did not buy any securities. I think we'd like to have a little bit more visibility into where rates end up at before jumping in and buying securities. I think that 360 NIM really doesn't assume much deployment of the cash position. It's just off the $2 billion of maturing and repricing loans. If you assume let's call it $1.7 billion, $1.8 billion of that you can reprice up 200, 225 basis points. That itself should get us 20, 25 basis points of NIM off of that. I think that the cash deployment, that's something over and above that.
But if you come back to our loan growth assumptions, we've said low to mid-single digit growth on the loan side, and we're growing deposits faster than a low to mid-single digit growth. That would really mean there's more cash on the balance sheet, right? Long story short, it doesn't really capture that. I think that's upside in the NIM. Another way to look at it is if we did deploy it, the 360% is more like 380%, 394% if we ran with the loan-to-deposit ratio closer to 90%-95%.
Okay. Do you think cash could build from here? I didn't really anticipate that, but it sounds like you might be leading me there.
No. Look, if you look at it this quarter, the loan-to-deposit ratio went down even though we grew loans because we grew deposits faster, right? It is a possibility, but we'll deal with it as it comes.
Yeah. Once we get to a point, Matt, where we're comfortable with our CRE ratio, and we're back in the CRE business today on a selected basis, you'll see larger loan growth and then the deployment of the cash. At this point, you're still seeing net runoff on the commercial real estate side, both on the multifamily and obviously on the straight commercial real estate. Once that kind of levels out at that point, and we expect that toward mid to late 2027, you'll start to see more significant loan growth and deployment of more cash.
Okay. Last one for me. Avi, just on the deal, there's a few numbers I was hoping you could help me out with. Maybe forecasted cost saves, what percentage you're using for CDI, and then the credit interest rate marks. And one-
Yeah.
Sorry.
Yeah, sure. The deal size is pretty small, 4% of our asset base. I think overall, we expect to run this at a ROA well in excess of 2% at the bank, fully factor in cost savings over there. The rate mark and credit mark, you probably end up somewhere close to somewhere between 4% and 5%±, including the rate and credit mark. Obviously, rates are elevated, so it depends on what point in time you do it. We kind of assumed the worst case where the five-year was at 5%. I think if you include that, it's probably somewhere between 4.5% and 5% rate on CRE put together on it. In terms of the CDI assumption, I'll just use 3% on the core deposits on that.
Deal costs, they probably should be in the $12 million-$13 million area, plus or minus, on a pre-tax basis.
Great. I'll leave it there. Thank you for taking all my questions. Appreciate it.
Okay. Thanks, Matt.
Thank you. I am currently showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Stuart Lubow for closing remarks.
Thank you, Shannon, and thank you all, and our dedicated employees and our shareholders for their continued support. We look forward to speaking with you after our fourth quarter.
This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-19Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) To Report Earnings Tomorrow: Here Is What To Expect
StockStory
Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) To Report Earnings Tomorrow: Here Is What To Expect
Regional bank Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) will be reporting earnings this Tuesday before market hours. Here's what to look for. Dime Community Bancshares beat analysts' revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $128.4 million, up 17.2% year on year. It was a satisfactory quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analysts' net interest income estimates but EPS in line with analysts' estimates. Is Dime Community Bancshares a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free for active Edge members. This quarter, the market is expecting Dime Community Bancshares's revenue to grow 12.5% year on year, slowing from the 33.3% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business will stay the course heading into earnings. Dime Community Bancshares rarely misses Wall Street's revenue estimates. Looking at Dime Community Bancshares's peers in the regional banks segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Independent Bank delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 7.4%, beating analysts' expectations by 0.6%, and Regions Financial reported revenues up 2.6%, topping estimates by 0.6%. Independent Bank traded up 3.6% following the results. Read our full analysis of Independent Bank's results here and Regions Financial's results here. Over the last year or so, investors' attention has moved from one major market theme to the next, spanning AI disruption and surging infrastructure investment to geopolitical tensions, interest rates, and the health of the broader economy. While some of the regional banks stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 4.9% on average over the last month. Dime Community Bancshares is down 5.6% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $46 (compared to the current share price of $38.62). ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Nvidia's Quiet Partner. Nvidia's chips cost a hundred grand. The connectors that make them work cost even more. One company makes them all. Every AI server needs specialized infrastructure the chip companies don't make. High-speed cables. Power connectors. Thermal sensors. This…Read full documentShow less
Regional bank Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) will be reporting earnings this Tuesday before market hours. Here's what to look for. Dime Community Bancshares beat analysts' revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $128.4 million, up 17.2% year on year. It was a satisfactory quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analysts' net interest income estimates but EPS in line with analysts' estimates. Is Dime Community Bancshares a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free for active Edge members. This quarter, the market is expecting Dime Community Bancshares's revenue to grow 12.5% year on year, slowing from the 33.3% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business will stay the course heading into earnings. Dime Community Bancshares rarely misses Wall Street's revenue estimates. Looking at Dime Community Bancshares's peers in the regional banks segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Independent Bank delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 7.4%, beating analysts' expectations by 0.6%, and Regions Financial reported revenues up 2.6%, topping estimates by 0.6%. Independent Bank traded up 3.6% following the results. Read our full analysis of Independent Bank's results here and Regions Financial's results here. Over the last year or so, investors' attention has moved from one major market theme to the next, spanning AI disruption and surging infrastructure investment to geopolitical tensions, interest rates, and the health of the broader economy. While some of the regional banks stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 4.9% on average over the last month. Dime Community Bancshares is down 5.6% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $46 (compared to the current share price of $38.62). ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Nvidia's Quiet Partner. Nvidia's chips cost a hundred grand. The connectors that make them work cost even more. One company makes them all. Every AI server needs specialized infrastructure the chip companies don't make. High-speed cables. Power connectors. Thermal sensors. This 90-year-old company built a monopoly on it. The AI boom just started. This stock is still flying under the radar. Claim The Stock Ticker Here for FREE.
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-16Dime Commercial Bancshares to Release Earnings on October 20, 2026
GlobeNewswire
Dime Commercial Bancshares to Release Earnings on October 20, 2026
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Oct. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dime Commercial Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE: DCOM) (the "Company") today announced that the Company expects to release its earnings for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, before the open of the U.S. equity markets on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. The Company will conduct a conference call at 8:30 a.m. (ET) on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, during which President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), Stuart Lubow, will discuss the Company's third quarter financial performance. There will be a question-and-answer period after the CEO remarks. Participants may access the conference call via webcast using this link: Webcast Link Here. To participate via telephone, please register in advance using this Registration Link. Upon registration, all telephone participants will receive a one-time confirmation email detailing how to join the conference call, including the dial-in number along with a unique PIN that can be used to access the call. All participants are encouraged to dial-in 10 minutes prior to the start time. A replay of the conference call and webcast will be available on-demand which will be available for 12 months. ABOUT DIME COMMERCIAL BANCSHARES, INC. Dime Commercial Bancshares, Inc. is the holding company for Dime Commercial Bank, a New York State-chartered trust company with approximately $15 billion in assets and the number one deposit market share on Greater Long Island (1). Investor Relations Contact: Avinash Reddy Senior Executive Vice President – Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Phone: 718-782-6200; Ext. 5909 Email: [email protected] ¹ Aggregate deposit market share for Kings, Queens, Nassau & Suffolk counties for commercial banks with less than $20 billion in assets. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.
Related articleQuarter not tagged2026-10-15Dime Community (DCOM) to Report Q3 Results: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
Zacks
Dime Community (DCOM) to Report Q3 Results: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
The market expects Dime Community (DCOM) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates. The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise. This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.87 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +42.6%. Revenues are expected to be $131.23 million, up 13.5% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.59% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction). The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP…Read full documentShow less
The market expects Dime Community (DCOM) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates. The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise. This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.87 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +42.6%. Revenues are expected to be $131.23 million, up 13.5% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.59% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction). The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only. A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP. Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell). For Dime Community, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +2.01%. On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4. So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Dime Community will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Dime Community would post earnings of $0.76 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.79, delivering a surprise of +3.95%. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times. An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss. That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Dime Community doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release. Among the stocks in the Zacks Banks - Southeast industry, WesBanco (WSBC), is soon expected to post earnings of $0.87 per share for the quarter ended September 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of -7.5%. This quarter's revenue is expected to be $276.34 million, up 5.6% from the year-ago quarter. Over the last 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for WesBanco has been revised 0.3% up to the current level. Nevertheless, the company now has an Earnings ESP of -0.61%, reflecting a lower Most Accurate Estimate. When combined with a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold), this Earnings ESP makes it difficult to conclusively predict that WesBanco will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (DCOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report WesBanco, Inc. (WSBC) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

