Today New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) announced earnings per share of $0.27 in the second quarter, a marginal decline from the $0.28 earnings per share seen in the second quarter of last year. In total its net income fell by $3.8 million to $119 million, representing a decline of 3.1%.
One of the biggest reasons for the decline in earnings at New York Community Bancorp resulted from broader market conditions as its net interest margin -- the difference from what it earns on loans versus what it pays out on deposits and other forms of borrowings -- fell from 3.15% in the second quarter of last year to 2.66% in the most recent quarter. As a result its net interest income dipped from $300 million to $283 million over the last year.
This was partially offset by its provision for loan losses -- what it expects to lose on the loans it has written -- falling dramatically, from $4.6 million in the second quarter of last year to just $188,000 in the most recent quarter. In addition its non-interest income was roughly flat, as although its mortgage banking income fell by 35%, or $7.9 million, its bucket of other income rose from $9.9 million to $20.6 million.
"We're gratified by the quarter's results and the degree to which our earnings reflect our focus on asset quality and the growth of our multi‐family loan portfolio," noted the president and CEO of New York Community Bancorp, Joseph Ficalora, in the earnings release. He went on to highlight, "Indicative of our focus on the quality of our assets, we reported a 30.7% reduction in non‐performing loans over the course of the quarter, which contributed to a 20.8% reduction in non‐performing assets at the end of June. "
Overall New York Community Bancorp continued to exhibit impressive profitability as its efficiency ratio -- the cost of each dollar of revenue -- stood at 41.2% and its cash return on average tangible equity stood at 15.5%. While both of these are down slightly from the second quarter of last year, they still remain among the best in the industry.
"While maintaining our asset quality is clearly important to us, so too is our ability to grow our loan portfolio," continued Ficalora. "Reflecting six‐month originations of $5.7 billion‐‐including $2.9 billion in the second quarter‐‐our portfolio of held‐for‐investment loans grew at an annualized rate of 14.4% from the end of December to $32.0 billion at the end of June. Multi‐family loans accounted for the bulk of the increase, having grown to $22.3 billion at an annualized rate of 15.6%."
In total the earnings of $0.27 per share topped the analyst expectations of those polled by Yahoo! Finance of $0.26 per share. Although the earnings were down slightly relative to last year, this quarter marked another impressive one for New York Community Bancorp.
