What happened

Shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp (MCB 1.86%), a $6.3 billion asset bank based in New York, traded more than 15% higher on the week as of market close Thursday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

So what

Earlier in the week, Metropolitan Bank reported diluted earnings per share of $2.25 on total revenue of roughly $65.5 million for the first quarter of the year, both numbers that beat analyst earnings estimates.

Total deposits did rise in the quarter, but the bank also saw a 12% decline in noninterest-bearing deposits, which are those the bank pays no interest on. That's not exactly a huge surprise given the banking crisis in the first quarter of the year and the fact that customers can make 4% or 5% on risk-free assets, but it did lead to margin compression.

"I am pleased with our first quarter results, which demonstrated that we were well prepared for the challenges that the banking industry has faced. The results, along with our proactive planning, validate our operating model," Metropolitan's President and CEO Mark DeFazio said in an earnings statement. He added:

Our capital, liquidity and financial position remain strong. While our lending growth was modest for the quarter, we continue to maintain our high credit quality standards and continued to see growth in core deposits. Global Payments revenue excluding Crypto continued to scale, quarter over quarter.

Now what

Metropolitan Bank has been the target of short sellers, and its stock is off some 41% this year and now trades at just 65% of its tangible book value or net worth. The bank also had a crypto business, which it will soon exit, but there have been some regulatory concerns on this front.

I don't see anything in the numbers to suggest that the bank is in any kind of perilous danger, and roughly 71% of the bank's deposits are now insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

But I would like to see how deposits trend over the next few quarters and if there is some news on the regulatory front, so I don't see any need to go too heavy into the stock -- nothing more than a small, speculative position.