Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (SBCF) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to Seacoast Banking Corporation's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Colby, and I'll be your conference operator today. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, I've been asked to direct your attention to the statement at the end of the company's press release regarding forward-looking statements. Seacoast will be discussing issues that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities and Exchange Act, and its comments today are intended to be covered within the meaning of that act. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Chuck Shaffer, Chairman and CEO of Seacoast Bank. Mr. Shaffer, you may begin.

Okay. Thank you, Colby, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. As we move through today's presentation, we'll reference the third quarter 2026 earnings slide deck available at seacoastbanking.com. Joining me today are Tracey Dexter, our Chief Financial Officer; Michael Young, our Chief Strategy Officer; and James Stallings, our Chief Credit Officer. Seacoast delivered another strong quarter with continued progress in growth, profitability and operating leverage, all tracking well against the guidance we laid out earlier this year. The quarter also marked an important transition for our company. We successfully completed the technology conversion of Citizens First Bank in The Villages, bringing our integration work largely to a close. The third quarter also represents the end of M&A-related charges flowing through our income statement, providing a cleaner earnings profile and greater visibility into the underlying earnings power of Seacoast. And, on October 2, Seacoast celebrated its 100th anniversary, an extraordinary milestone made possible by generations of associates, customers, shareholders and the communities we serve. And turning to the third quarter, net income was $59.9 million or $0.55 per share with adjusted earnings of $71.8 million or $0.66 per share. And I was particularly pleased with the continued improvement in profitability, which has been a major strategic focus over the past year. Adjusted ROA improved to 1.34% and adjusted ROTE increased to 16.9% and adjusted pretax pre-provision earnings grew 58% (sic) [ 49% ] year-over-year. Organic growth remained strong and loans grew at a 13% annualized rate in the quarter, and we ended September with a commercial pipeline of approximately $1.3 billion. And, importantly, we're generating this growth while maintaining disciplined underwriting and strong credit quality with nonperforming loans declining 15% (sic) [ 0.54% ] and net charge-offs remaining low. And, on the funding side, total deposits were essentially flat year-to-date, but the underlying franchise trends remain encouraging, particularly as we continue to focus on growing operating accounts. Year-to-date, noninterest-bearing deposits have grown at a 10% annualized rate and year-to-date growth in business accounts offset declines in public fund balances. And we are now moving beyond our seasonal low point for deposits, and I expect core deposit growth from here. And as we look ahead, Seacoast is operating from a position of considerable strength. We have a fortress balance sheet, substantial liquidity, robust capital, improving profitability and significant organic growth opportunities across our markets. That combination gives us both resilience and considerable flexibility as we move into 2027. And, with the integration largely behind us, our focus is squarely on execution, attracting great bankers, growing organically, deepening customer relationships and investing in technology and AI to operate more efficiently and deliver an even better experience for our customers. I want to thank our associates for their tremendous commitment to Seacoast and our One Team culture. We have accomplished a great deal thus far in 2026. And with the integration behind us, profitability improving and strong momentum across the franchise, I believe Seacoast is very well positioned for another year of strong performance in 2027. And, with that, I'll turn it over to Tracey.

Thank you, Chuck. Good morning, everyone. Beginning with Slide 4 and third quarter performance highlights. Seacoast reported net income of $59.9 million or $0.55 per share, up 1% from the prior quarter and 64% from the prior year quarter. Adjusted net income increased 9% sequentially to $71.8 million or $0.66 per share, up 59% from the prior year quarter. Adjusted pretax pre-provision earnings were $100.3 million, up 5% from the prior quarter and 49% from the prior year quarter. Net interest income increased 2% from the prior quarter. Net interest margin was stable at 3.83%, while margin, excluding acquired loan accretion, increased 1 basis point to 3.66%. Adjusted ROA improved to 1.34%. Loans increased $429 million or 13% annualized during the quarter, supported by continued strong origination activity. We're seeing good results in relationship deposit growth year-to-date with noninterest-bearing deposits up 10% on an annualized basis since the beginning of the year. Adjusted return on tangible equity grew to 16.9%, and we remain well positioned with strong capital. Moving to net interest income and margin on Slide 5. Net interest income on a fully tax-equivalent basis totaled $185.4 million, up $3.2 million from the prior quarter. Higher average loan balances and higher core loan yields supported growth, partially offset by higher deposit costs and lower average securities balances. Net interest margin remained stable at 3.83%. Excluding acquired loan accretion, core margin increased 1 basis point to 3.66%. Securities yields increased to 4.52%. Loan yields were 5.89%, up 1 basis point sequentially. And excluding accretion, loan yields increased 3 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.64%. The cost of deposits increased modestly but remained low at 1.6%, and the overall cost of funds was 1.74%. Turning to noninterest income on Slide 6. Noninterest income totaled $31.6 million, up 14% from the prior quarter. Excluding securities activity, adjusted noninterest income was $32.1 million, up 15% from the prior quarter. Wealth management income continues to build, increasing 2% sequentially. Mortgage banking income increased $2 million from the prior quarter to $4.7 million, with the increase largely the result of the change in the value of mortgage servicing rights resulting from higher market interest rates. Insurance agency income continues to grow, increasing $0.5 million from the prior quarter. Other income increased $1.4 million from the prior quarter, reflecting higher swap and syndication fees, higher gains on SBA loan sales and higher income from SBIC investments. Moving to Slide 7. Assets under management reached $3.2 billion, an increase of 29% year-over-year. And as you can see on the chart, a 22% compound annual growth rate over the last 5 years. The team has added $574 million of new organic assets under management year-to-date, reflecting continued new business development and asset inflows from new and existing relationships. Moving to expenses on Slide 8. Noninterest expense totaled $133.3 million and included $15.5 million of merger and integration costs associated with the completion of the Citizens First Bank, Villages Bancorp conversion. Adjusted noninterest expense was $117.8 million compared with $114.8 million in the prior quarter. The adjusted efficiency ratio improved to 53.9% from 54.5% in the second quarter and 57.6% a year ago, demonstrating continued improvement in core operating leverage. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we expect approximately $2.4 million in discrete expenses, which will not recur in 2027. On to Slides 9 and 10 on the loan portfolio. Loans ended the quarter at $13.6 billion, increasing $429 million or 13% annualized from June 30. The commercial pipeline remains strong at approximately $1.3 billion at September 30, supporting our outlook for continued organic growth. Looking at the allowance for credit losses, the details of which are shown on Slide 11. The allowance for credit losses was $191 million, 1.41% of total loans compared with 1.38% at June 30. During the third quarter, we recorded an adjustment to the purchase accounting valuation for a loan acquired in The Villages acquisition. This increased the allowance by $8.4 million with a corresponding adjustment to goodwill. Our credit quality metrics shown on Slide 12, remains solid. Nonperforming loans declined during the quarter to $73.3 million and represent 54 basis points of total loans. Net charge-offs were $5.4 million or 16 basis points of average loans, and the fourth-quarter average is 10 basis points of total loans. The level of criticized and classified loans was stable at 2.9% of total loans. Turning to deposits on Slides 13 and 14. Total deposits were $16.6 billion at September 30 compared with $16.8 billion at June 30. The third quarter is typically our seasonal low point during the year, but the decline also reflects a $159 million reduction in brokered time deposits. Noninterest-bearing demand deposits remained near flat at $4.2 billion. Average noninterest-bearing balances increased $40 million from the second quarter. Customer transaction accounts represented 48% of total deposits at quarter end, and the top 10 depositors represented only 2% of total customer deposits. Moving to Slide 15 and the investment securities portfolio. Net unrealized losses in the available-for-sale securities portfolio increased by $237 million during the third quarter, driven by higher rates and wider spreads. As a reminder, this is a high-quality portfolio of largely agency-backed securities and with no anticipated need to sell these securities, the decline in value is considered temporary and will reverse over time as these bonds move towards maturity or as the rate environment changes. Turning to capital and liquidity on Slide 16. Strong capital levels are a hallmark of the Seacoast franchise. The sequential decline in tangible equity to tangible assets and tangible book value per share primarily reflected the impact of higher rates on the market value of the available-for-sale securities portfolio through accumulated other comprehensive income, and we also put some capital to work through share repurchases. Our robust capital levels continue to provide significant flexibility to support organic growth and disciplined capital deployment. On Slide 17, demonstrating the components of the change in TBV per share during the quarter, which again was primarily impacted by unrealized losses related to the securities portfolio. On Slide 18, we reiterate our 2026 guidance. Our results for the quarter continue to evidence the improvements we've achieved in core profitability, strong funding trends and continued execution against our strategic priorities. We remain focused on disciplined growth and long-term shareholder value creation. With that, I'll turn the call back to Chuck.

All right. Thank you, Tracey. And, Colby, we're ready for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] And with your first question comes from Woody Lay with KBW.

I wanted to start on the margin outlook and especially get a sense of how the margin trended throughout the quarter and where we kind of sat in the back half of September once we saw the rate hike.

Yes, Woody, this is Michael. I'll take that one. I think generally, the thing to think about as we head into the fourth quarter is that we'll have the return of seasonal deposit flows, namely public funds. Our public funds are more relationship-oriented and therefore, at a lower rate than some of our wholesale funding that we've used to kind of temporarily fund the balance sheet with a strong growth in Q3. And so you'll see a pretty distinct mix shift into Q4 with about $300 million or so of deposit growth at much lower rates, maybe 100 to 200 basis points below our wholesale funding that should lead to a reasonable margin expansion into the fourth quarter, all else equal. And then taking just the Fed hike portion of that, that occurred in September, as you can see from our disclosures, we're relatively neutral to rates at this point with about a 35% deposit beta. That roughly matches up to our 35% floating rate loan portfolio. And so as we see moves in the Fed funds rate, we don't expect that to be really much of a headwind or a tailwind to the overall margin or earnings outlook.

Got it. And then I guess even the NIM trajectory past this quarter, I know you're not going to give 2027 guidance, but I would expect loan growth to continue to be strong. And as you think about that incremental growth, does that represent a positive to the margin? Or is incremental growth, are we kind of reaching peak margins from here?

I wouldn't say we're reaching peak margins. That's not how I'd characterize it. Maybe I'll just kind of unpack it a little bit. Again, not providing '27 guidance, but just giving you some of the dynamics that we've articulated in the past. I think there's 3 key buckets to think about on the earning asset side. First, you've got about $600 million of fixed rate maturities through the end of 2027 that are in the high 4% range. So those will step up pretty nicely. And I think in particular, if the long end of the curve stays high and upward sloping, we'll get more leverage out of some of these back book repricing dynamics. Then you've got the ARM portfolio that has been relatively fixed over the last 3 to 4 years coming out of kind of a concentration of COVID-era originations. Those are all hitting reset windows, about $300 million to $400 million per year over the next couple of years with step-ups of about 1.5% on the rates on those. And then the third bucket would just be the changeover from the securities portfolio to loans as we remix the balance sheet following the acquisitions and the strong loan growth, which is hitting on your direct question, that the securities portfolio is at about a 4.45% yield today. So as we change over $500 million to $600 million of cash flows from securities to loans over the next couple of years, that provides, again, with a higher rate environment, more power to the earning asset repricing. So all those are kind of tailwinds discretely to earning assets stepping up higher. And then we should be balanced relative to Fed hikes, as I just mentioned on kind of the deposit beta relative to our floating rate positioning on the loan portfolio. So then the only factor you have left is kind of what is deposit competition going to look like. And we feel good about our ability to continue to grow core funding and relationship funding without feeling maybe as much pressure as peers. So we still feel good, I think, overall about margin expansion from here into 2027 if the long end of the curve stays high.

All right. That's really great color. I appreciate that. And then I guess just last for me. If I look at the core ROA in the third quarter, you were at a 1.34% ROA. It sounds like there's tailwinds to the margin. You're through the villages conversion, but you're targeting a 1.30% for the fourth quarter. And I was just curious on where you see some of the normalization occurring in the overall profitability.

Woody, this is Michael. I'll start on that one. I think Tracey mentioned in the prepared remarks about $2.4 million in kind of discrete expense items in the fourth quarter that may just put a little pressure in the other direction temporarily for ROA, but the longer-term dynamics of margin expansion should be supportive of ROA over time. But I will call out that we are still investing for growth in the franchise with a high single-digit loan growth rate, et cetera. We're continuing to add and attract talent to the franchise from bankers and other people kind of bringing that in. So there is still a good bit of investment that's going on to support strong growth in our markets, and we just see lots of opportunity there. So we're going to balance it as we always have with revenue and managing kind of the efficiency ratio and profitability, but it was really important for us to get to the 1.30% level we articulated prior to the acquisition and the 16% ROTE. So feel good about where we are with some tailwinds in a higher rate environment.

And the only thing I'd add, Woody, is we feel strongly that we'll hit the high end of the guidance range that we provided and exit the year in a really strong position.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Russell Gunther with Stephens.

I'd love to start on the loan growth discussion, please. Really another great quarter from both an order of magnitude and mix perspective, commercial pipeline essentially unchanged. How are you guys thinking about the sustainability of a double-digit loan growth result near term? And then as we contemplate potential future rate hikes or the 10-year kind of remaining north of 5%, is there an absolute level of rates where demand destruction occurs that puts your organic growth targets at risk?

Yes. That's a great question, Russell. The way we're thinking about things is, one, both last quarter and this quarter were standout quarters, and we probably were growing even greater than what we had expected, which is amazing and the result of the heavy amount of recruiting and banker adds that we made earlier this year and then into the prior year. But looking forward, I mean, there's no doubt as rates move higher, demand will go down. And we have contemplated that as we think about the coming year, particularly in commercial real estate as rates go higher, commercial real estate values come down, you end up at a point where buyers and sellers have to reconcile price again to get transactions to move. So the way we're thinking about the outlook, the longer-term outlook is remaining in that high single-digit growth rate. That's where we think we'll land. That's what we're modeling to, and that's kind of our expectation into the coming quarter. I would suggest to you probably right around 10% growth rate on an annualized basis is kind of the way to think about Q4 with some gives and takes in there. But more longer term, I think high single digits is a more appropriate sort of modeled growth rate for us.

And Russell, maybe just to tack on one additional piece on that. Just the payoff trends is important to keep in mind as well. So there's production and payoffs in a higher rate environment. We do expect lower payoffs. We had about $380 million this quarter, down from $420 million last quarter. In Q1, we had relatively high payoffs. So it takes a little less production to get to the same level of net growth in a higher rate environment for us anyway. And then additionally, with the mortgage production that we have, ours is a little more resilient and durable than many peers given that it's a lot of kind of new construction related in The Villages.

That's great color, guys. And then, Michael, maybe this one for you, just in terms of point of clarification, how you are thinking about the deposit beta here through the cycle? Was that a 35% kind of total deposit beta? Or is that just near term? Maybe just walk us through how you'd expect to shake out.

Yes, Russell, I think 35% is kind of where we expect to be. We were higher in the last rate hiking cycle, but obviously, that was a pretty acute cycle. And then we've remixed with really strong deposit balances through The Villages acquisition and the Heartland acquisition that look very similar to legacy Seacoast in terms of very granular deposit base with lower price sensitivity. So we still feel pretty good about that overall. Competition, obviously, is something that could emerge and put some pressure on that. But I think with the strong back book repricing dynamics that we have over the next year or so, I think we'll more than offset the competitive pressures with back book repricing dynamics, which gives us the confidence in some continued margin expansion, again, assuming that the long end of the rate -- or long end of the curve stays reasonably high.