Continuing my effort to explore banks both large and small, today I bring you California's Capital Corp. of the West (NASDAQ:CCOW). This is a rather modest-sized bank that operates 23 branches in the Central Valley of California between Stockton and Fresno.

While the bank's first-quarter results look pretty respectable in their own right, a little adjustment makes them look even more impressive. Reported net income rose 11% in the quarter, but if you strip out insurance proceeds from the year-ago period, the growth rate balloons to 25%. Likewise with the return on assets and equity. The absolute values for this quarter (1.28% and 17.6%) aren't bad in their own right, and stripping out that gain turns the year-on-year performance reverse into an improvement.

The growth here has a pretty basic fuel -- growth in underlying earning assets. Net interest income rose 23% in the quarter, with 19% growth in those underlying average assets. Net interest margin was also quite good (4.72%), even if the year-on-year improvement is due mostly to a change in asset mix. One small fly in the ointment: Non-interest income really isn't too substantial here -- and I tend to like banks with nice, fat, non-interest income.

As you might suspect from the prior paragraph, loan growth was pretty substantial. Average loan balances increased more than 24%, and the bank saw good growth in both commercial and mortgage lending (now, about half the total). It's also worth noting that about three-quarters of these loans have floating rate. Deposit growth was also robust -- up almost 18% on balance, with non-interest-bearing deposit balances up over 12%.

While Capital Corp. has already established a good record for itself, there could be more to come. This Central Valley area is apparently becoming a more popular place to live, and the University of California recently opened a new branch in Merced -- this company's hometown. And so while I'm sure that large banks like Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), and Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM) are going to be major players, it's worth remembering that Capital Corp. already has leading market share in many of these counties.

Although I'm pleased with the way my valuation models handle larger (and generally slower-growing) banks, I'm in the process of rethinking my approach to these small, fast-growing companies. Consequently, instead of buy/sell/hold, I'll simply say, "Stay tuned," and maybe suggest that bank stock investors looking for some riskier growth take a look here.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).