Stellar Bancorp Inc (STEL) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Karen, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Stellar quarter one 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持。我叫凱倫 (Karen)，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Stellar 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）

I will now turn the call over to Courtney Theriot, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話轉給首席會計官 Courtney Theriot。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and thank you to all who have joined our call today. Good morning. Our team would like to welcome you to our earnings call for the first quarter of 2025. This morning's earnings call will be led by our CEO, Bob Franklin; and CFO, Paul Egge. Also in attendance today are Steve Retzloff, Executive Chairman of the Company; Ray Vitulli, President of the Company and CEO of the Bank; and Joe West, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of the Bank.

謝謝接線員，也感謝今天參加我們電話會議的所有人。早安.我們的團隊歡迎您參加 2025 年第一季的收益電話會議。今天早上的收益電話會議將由我們的執行長鮑勃富蘭克林 (Bob Franklin) 和財務長 Paul Egge 主持。今天出席會議的還有公司執行董事長史蒂夫·雷茨洛夫 (Steve Retzloff)、公司總裁兼銀行首席執行官雷·維圖利 (Ray Vitulli) 以及銀行高級執行副總裁兼首席信貸官喬·韋斯特 (Joe West)。

Before we begin, I need to remind everyone that some of our remarks made today constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. We intend all such statements to be covered by the Safe Harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the act.

在我們開始之前，我需要提醒大家，我們今天發表的一些言論構成了《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案》（經修訂）中定義的前瞻性陳述。我們希望所有此類聲明都受到該法案中前瞻性聲明的安全港條款的約束。

Also note that if we give guidance about future results, that guidance is only a reflection of management's beliefs at the time the statement is made, and such beliefs are subject to change. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. Please see the last page of the text in this morning's earnings release, which is available on our website at ir.stellarbancorpinc.com for additional information about the risk factors associated with forward-looking statements.

也要注意，如果我們對未來結果做出指導，該指導僅反映管理層在發表聲明時的信念，而這種信念可能會改變。我們不承擔公開更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務，除非法律另有規定。有關前瞻性陳述相關風險因素的更多信息，請參閱今天上午收益報告的最後一頁文本，該文本可在我們的網站 ir.stellarbancorpinc.com 上找到。

At the conclusion of our remarks, we will open the line and allow time for questions. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Bob Franklin.

在我們的發言結束時，我們將開通熱線並留出時間回答問題。現在我將電話轉給我們的執行長鮑勃富蘭克林。

Thank you, Courtney. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Stellar Bancorp first-quarter earnings call. I'll begin by thanking our outstanding team at Stellar whose solid work continues to build a strong financial institution for our communities.

謝謝你，考特尼。大家早安，歡迎參加 Stellar Bancorp 第一季財報電話會議。首先，我要感謝 Stellar 的傑出團隊，他們的辛勤工作繼續為我們的社區建立強大的金融機構。

As we entered 2025, we spoke of our focus on the customer: internal, existing, and prospective. Our focus is unchanged. We must acknowledge, however, that the administration has introduced a fair amount of uncertainty into the economy, though it is too early to see signs of impact on our communities.

當我們進入 2025 年時，我們談到了對客戶的關注：內部客戶、現有客戶和潛在客戶。我們的重點沒有改變。然而，我們必須承認，政府為經濟帶來了相當大的不確定性，儘管現在還無法看出對我們社區產生影響的跡象。

Our team will remain disciplined around credit as we monitor the impact of the new tariff policies on our customers and our communities. We continue to see opportunities for new customer acquisition, and our pipelines are growing, while we are also seeing significant commercial real estate paydowns as interest rates begin to stabilize. Given these conditions and the economic climate, we will proceed cautiously.

我們的團隊將繼續嚴守信貸紀律，並密切關注新關稅政策對我們的客戶和社區的影響。我們繼續看到獲得新客戶的機會，我們的管道也不斷成長，同時，隨著利率開始穩定，我們也看到商業房地產的大幅下降。鑑於這些條件和經濟環境，我們將謹慎行事。

Challenges also provide opportunity, and we took advantage of our strong capital position to return capital to our shareholders through meaningful share repurchases during the first quarter. The repurchases are in line with our goal to manage our capital to the benefit of our shareholders.

挑戰也帶來了機遇，我們利用強大的資本實力，在第一季透過有意義的股票回購向股東返還資本。回購符合我們管理資本、造福股東的目標。

We remain focused on building the great foundation our team has put in place. Given the economic uncertainty of the first quarter, we believe that growth will be pushed to the third and fourth quarters of the year. Although conditions make us cautious, our dynamic markets and our team keep us optimistic.

我們將繼續致力於建立我們團隊已經打下的堅實基礎。鑑於第一季的經濟不確定性，我們認為成長將推遲到今年第三季和第四季。儘管情況讓我們保持謹慎，但我們充滿活力的市場和我們的團隊讓我們保持樂觀。

I will now turn the call over to Paul Egge, our CFO, for more details on the quarter.

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長 Paul Egge，以了解有關本季的更多詳細資訊。

Thanks, Bob, and good morning, everybody. We are very pleased to report first-quarter 2025 net income of $24.7 million or $0.46 per diluted share, which represents an annualized return on average assets of 94 basis points and an annualized return on average tangible common equity of 11.48%.

謝謝，鮑勃，大家早安。我們非常高興地報告 2025 年第一季淨收入為 2,470 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.46 美元，這代表平均資產年化回報率為 94 個基點，平均有形普通股年化回報率為 11.48%。

Key highlights of our first-quarter performance included a reduction of noninterest expenses and a meaningful repurchase of common stock, along with the continuation of core net interest margin progress after seeing inflection during 2024.

我們第一季業績的主要亮點包括非利息支出的減少和普通股的大幅回購，以及核心淨利差在 2024 年出現拐點後持續成長。

Our balance sheet shrunk during the quarter on a point-to-point basis, largely due to the seasonal outflow of government banking deposits and cash balances that had significantly inflated our balance sheet at year-end, which we acknowledged during our last earnings call.

我們的資產負債表在本季逐點縮水，主要是由於政府銀行存款和現金餘額的季節性流出，導致年底的資產負債表大幅膨脹，我們在上次收益電話會議上承認了這一點。

Looking at it on an average basis, the linked quarter decrease in assets was much less significant and more reflective of the decrease in loans experienced during the quarter. The net result is a smaller but stronger and more core balance sheet with a very strong capital position, and that's notwithstanding our share repurchase activity during the quarter. And if not for two less days to earn interest in the first quarter, earnings would have been up relative to the prior quarter.

從平均值來看，本季資產的環比減少幅度並不大，這更反映了本季貸款的減少。最終結果是資產負債表規模較小但更強大且更加核心，資本狀況非常強勁，儘管我們在本季度進行了股票回購活動。如果不是第一季少了兩天的利息收入，收益就會比上一季上升。

Notwithstanding broader economic uncertainty, we believe we are well positioned to return to a reasonable level of growth during the year, albeit later than initially planned. And incremental growth will position us well to deliver operating leverage and earnings improvement in 2025.

儘管存在更廣泛的經濟不確定性，但我們相信，儘管比最初計劃的要晚，但我們已做好準備，在今年恢復到合理的增長水平。而增量成長將使我們在 2025 年實現營運槓桿和獲利改善。

Net interest income for the quarter was $99.3 million, representing a decrease from the $103 million booked in the fourth quarter. This was largely due to lower purchase accounting accretion and two less days to earn interest due to the 90-day quarter. This translated into a net interest margin of 4.2% in the first quarter relative to 4.25% in the fourth quarter of 2024.

本季淨利息收入為 9,930 萬美元，較第四季的 1.03 億美元有所下降。這主要是由於購買會計增值較低以及 90 天季度導致賺取利息的時間減少了兩天。這意味著第一季的淨利差為 4.2%，而 2024 年第四季的淨利差為 4.25%。

Purchase accounting accretion in the first quarter was $5.4 million relative to $7.6 million in the fourth quarter. Excluding purchase accounting accretion, tax equivalent net interest income decreased slightly in the quarter to $94 million from $95.5 million in the prior quarter and net interest margin, excluding purchase accounting accretion, was 3.97%, up from 3.94% in the prior quarter.

第一季的採購會計增值額為 540 萬美元，而第四季的採購會計增值額為 760 萬美元。不包括購買會計增值，本季稅收等值淨利息收入從上一季的 9,550 萬美元小幅下降至 9,400 萬美元，不包括購買會計增值的淨利差為 3.97%，高於上一季的 3.94%。

Key drivers to the strong margin performance during the first quarter included the relative stability in maintaining a strong proportion of noninterest-bearing deposits, which represented over 37% of our deposit base, a 14 basis point improvement in our cost of funds, driven by a 21 basis point improvement in our cost of interest-bearing liabilities. Also, we had incrementally higher securities yields and pretty strong loan yields after excluding purchase accounting accretion.

第一季利潤率表現強勁的關鍵驅動因素包括：無息存款佔比保持相對穩定，佔存款基礎的 37% 以上；資金成本改善 14 個基點，這得益於計息負債成本改善 21 個基點。此外，在排除購買會計增值後，我們的證券收益率逐步提高，貸款收益率也相當強勁。

Walking further down the income statement, we booked a provision for loan losses from the first quarter of $3.6 million. In combination with minimal net charge-offs of $163,000 during the quarter, this brings our allowance for credit losses on loans to $83.7 million or 1.15% of loans from $81.1 million or 1.09% of loans at the end of the prior year.

進一步查看損益表，我們從第一季起提了 360 萬美元的貸款損失準備金。加上本季 163,000 美元的最低淨沖銷額，這使我們的貸款信用損失準備金從上年末的 8,110 萬美元或貸款的 1.09% 增至 8,370 萬美元或貸款的 1.15%。

Moving on to noninterest income. We earned $5.5 million for the first quarter versus $5 million in the fourth quarter, noting that the first quarter benefited from small gains on sales of assets. Next, noninterest expense for the quarter was down $5.1 million to $70.2 million from $75.3 million in noninterest expense during the fourth quarter. This is better than planned and reflective of both some timing-driven dynamics and our focus on holding the line on expenses where we can. Our strong bottom-line results have driven a continuation of our track record of growing our regulatory capital ratios and tangible book value per share since the merger.

繼續討論非利息收入。我們第一季的獲利為 550 萬美元，而第四季的獲利為 500 萬美元，需要注意的是，第一季受益於資產出售的小幅收益。其次，本季非利息支出從第四季的 7,530 萬美元下降 510 萬美元至 7,020 萬美元。這比計劃的要好，既反映了一些時間驅動的動態，也反映了我們對盡可能控制開支的關注。自合併以來，我們強勁的獲利績效推動了我們的監管資本比率和每股有形帳面價值持續成長。

Total risk-based capital was 15.94% at the end of the first quarter relative to 16% at the end of 2024 and 14.02% at the end of 2023. Our regulatory capital ratios at the bank actually ticked up. Year over year, tangible book value per share increased 14.3% from $17.23 to $19.69 per share, and that is after the effect of both dividends and the share repurchases.

第一季末總風險資本為 15.94%，而 2024 年底為 16%，2023 年底為 14.02%。我們銀行的監管資本比率實際上有所上升。與去年同期相比，每股有形帳面價值成長 14.3%，從每股 17.23 美元增至 19.69 美元，這是股息和股票回購的影響。

We continue to like our prospects for strong internal capital generation and the optionality that it creates, which we feel is very valuable in the current operating environment. During the first quarter, we acted on this optionality through share repurchases, buying back 1.4 million shares of our stock at a weighted average price of $27.99 per share. Additionally, we repurchased 679,000 shares at a weighted average price of $25.83 per share since the end of the first quarter, representing in total nearly 4% of our shares outstanding at year-end.

我們繼續看好強勁的內部資本生成前景及其創造的選擇性，我們認為這在當前的營運環境中非常有價值。在第一季度，我們透過股票回購實現了這一選擇權，以每股 27.99 美元的加權平均價格回購了 140 萬股股票。此外，自第一季末以來，我們以每股 25.83 美元的加權平均價格回購了 679,000 股，總計佔年末流通股的近 4%。

The Board of Directors also authorized a new share repurchase program, which allows us to repurchase up to $65 million in shares through May of 2026. While our preference would be to deploy capital through growth and M&A, we appreciate having the flexibility to pursue capital optimization through buybacks when appropriate.

董事會還批准了一項新的股票回購計劃，該計劃允許我們在 2026 年 5 月之前回購價值高達 6,500 萬美元的股票。雖然我們傾向於透過成長和併購來部署資本，但我們很高興能夠在適當的時候透過回購來靈活地實現資本優化。

In closing, we really like where we sit, both financially and strategically. We've laid the foundation to support adding more scale to the Stellar Bank platform, and it remains our goal to deliver positive operating leverage during the year while maintaining a really strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to be opportunistic.

最後，我們真的很喜歡我們現在的財務和策略現狀。我們已經奠定了基礎，以支持擴大恆星銀行平台的規模，我們的目標仍然是在今年實現積極的經營槓桿，同時保持強勁的資產負債表和抓住機會的財務靈活性。

Thank you, and I will now turn the call back over to Bob.

謝謝，現在我會把電話轉回給鮑伯。

Thank you, Paul. I think, operator, we're ready for questions.

謝謝你，保羅。接線員，我想我們已經準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) David Feaster, Raymond James.

（操作員指示）大衛·菲斯特，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

I want to start on the loan side. It sounds like we're cautiously optimistic about potential for accelerating growth that this might hopefully is kind of the trough here. Could you just, I guess, first off, touch on the pulse of your clients. Obviously, there's a ton of uncertainty out there. So I'd be curious, what are you hearing from your clients? And just how the pipeline is trending? And how much of this decline is a function of payoffs and paydowns being elevated and higher than expected versus slower originations just given the uncertainty?

我想從貸款方面開始。聽起來我們對加速成長的潛力持謹慎樂觀的態度，希望這可能是這裡的低谷。我想，首先您能否了解一下您的客戶的狀況？顯然，存在著大量的不確定性。所以我很好奇，您從客戶那裡聽到了什麼？那麼管道的趨勢如何？這種下降在多大程度上是由於還款額和還款額高於預期，而不是由於不確定性導致的貸款發放速度放緩？

Let me set this up a little bit, and I want Ray to come in and fill in. One of the things we've been focused on, David, is -- I mean, I think when you see an MOE come together, especially the way ours did is two real community, small community banks and then combine into a bank that's over $10 billion in assets, there's some redistribution of how the loan book should look.

讓我稍微設定一下，然後我想讓 Ray 進來填寫。大衛，我們一直關注的事情之一是——我的意思是，我認為當你看到 MOE 合併時，特別是像我們這樣的，兩個真正的社區銀行、小型社區銀行合併成一家資產超過 100 億美元的銀行，貸款賬簿的面貌應該重新分配。

And we've been attempting to kind of reconfigure what that -- what the loan side of our balance sheet looks like. In other words, be able to do across the board any type of loan that we want to do without being totally reliant on these sort of smaller real estate loans that we have all done in the past as a smaller community bank.

我們一直在嘗試重新配置資產負債表的貸款部分。換句話說，我們可以全面地進行任何類型的貸款，而不必完全依賴我們過去作為小型社區銀行所做的那種小額房地產貸款。

So across the board, be able to do the things that we want to do. So there's a bit of real focus on it. And letting some of this stuff roll out. So we were -- when we started this journey, we were over the regulatory guidance in both categories, both C&D and CRE. So what we've done is focused on getting those balances back down to what looks more like a larger bank balance sheet.

所以從各方面來說，我們都能做我們想做的事情。因此，我們對此確實有點關注。並讓其中一些東西推出來。因此，當我們開始這一旅程時，我們已經超越了 C&D 和 CRE 這兩個類別的監管指導。因此，我們所做的就是集中精力將這些餘額恢復到更像更大的銀行資產負債表的狀態。

So we've done that. We continue to see some of that roll off that we've really kind of focused on letting roll off. And then as we add to it, it's a little bit different focus on what we're adding to it. But I'm going to let Ray fill in the gaps here.

所以我們這樣做了。我們繼續看到一些我們真正關注的滾動現象。然後，當我們添加內容時，我們對所添加內容的關注點會有所不同。但我會讓雷來填補這裡的空白。

Thanks, Bob. David, on the -- to your question around pipeline and kind of the waterfall. So in the first quarter, our loan originations, and this kind of goes to this -- the build of the pipeline and what we're seeing. If you compare it to the past four quarters, we've had two good quarters of solid originations that were in excess of the second-quarter '24 and third-quarter '24.

謝謝，鮑伯。大衛，關於你關於管道和瀑布的問題。因此，在第一季度，我們的貸款發放量以及通路建設情況都與此有關。如果與過去四個季度相比，我們有兩個季度表現良好，創匯超過 2024 年第二季和 2024 年第三季。

So fourth quarter of '24 and first quarter, we're trending in the right direction, and it supports what we're seeing in the pipeline as far as deal flow as well as just the absolute value of the pipeline, both in expansion of our existing customer base and new market share gain opportunities.

因此，24 年第四季和第一季度，我們正朝著正確的方向發展，它支持了我們在交易流程以及通路絕對價值方面所看到的趨勢，無論是在擴大現有客戶群方面，還是在擴大新市場份額方面。

So if you look at where that's building, it's so long as we can convert, it will continue to generate higher loan originations. And then we've got to see where those fund. But if they fund the way we think they're going to fund, that obviously gives us a lift to offset the payoffs, which have been about, call it, $275 million to $300 million a quarter.

因此，如果你看一下它的建設地點，只要我們能夠轉換，它就會繼續產生更高的貸款發放量。然後我們必須看看這些資金在哪裡。但如果他們按照我們認為的方式提供資金，這顯然會為我們帶來幫助，以抵消收益，我們的收益大約是每季 2.75 億至 3 億美元。

The other component of the waterfall that really kind of goes to what Bob just talked about is that what we call our carried loans, which is our advances less our payments on the whole book. And because of the posture that Bob mentioned, that has not given us a lift over the past four quarters.

瀑布的另一個組成部分實際上與鮑勃剛才談到的有關，那就是我們所說的附帶貸款，也就是我們的預付款減去整個帳簿的付款。而且由於鮑伯提到的態勢，這在過去四個季度並沒有為我們帶來任何提振。

So as we continue to originate and get availability that will then fund, we should see took a positive lift in the carried, which will help the overall loan growth story, which we -- as we said, should be in the second half of the year. We're seeing a little bit of growth in our unfunded commitments, which is good, which is kind of the leading indicator for that. So we feel good about it. Our team is laser-focused. We know what's needed on the origination side in order to generate the growth.

因此，隨著我們繼續發起並獲得可用的資金，我們應該看到貸款額度出現積極的提升，這將有助於整體貸款成長，正如我們所說的，這應該在今年下半年實現。我們看到未撥付的承諾略有增長，這是好事，可以說是領先指標。因此我們對此感覺良好。我們的團隊高度集中精力。我們知道在起源方面需要什麼才能實現成長。

And to your question about customer sentiment, it's kind of the way we're talking about it. It's still early to tell. And we have seen maybe some pull-through of things like maybe some inventory purchases early, but we still think it's too early in that aspect. And as far as deal flow, what we're seeing in committee and what we're seeing in the pipelines, it's positive.

對於您提出的有關客戶情緒的問題，這就是我們談論它的方式。現在下結論還為時過早。我們可能已經看到了一些事情的進展，例如早期的一些庫存購買，但我們仍然認為這方面還為時過早。就交易流程而言，我們在委員會中看到的情況以及我們在管道中看到的情況都是正面的。

Okay. That's great color. And maybe just touching on the deposit side. I mean you used some pretty strong language in the press release, saying the market is intensely competitive. Could you just elaborate on that and touch on some of the trends you're seeing, obviously, exclusive of the government deposits, just where are you having success winning new relationships? How do you think about core deposit growth and opportunities to further optimize funding and maybe drive some further improvements in deposit costs even exclusive of Fed cuts?

好的。顏色真棒。也許只是涉及存款方面。我的意思是，你在新聞稿中使用了一些相當強烈的語言，說市場競爭非常激烈。您能否詳細說明這一點，並談談您所看到的一些趨勢，顯然，除了政府存款之外，您在哪裡成功贏得了新的關係？您如何看待核心存款成長和進一步優化融資的機會，甚至排除聯準會降息的影響，可能進一步改善存款成本？

Well, we still -- we really like our new account origination story. So first quarter onboarded in both number and dollar amount more than the fourth quarter. The NIM mix is consistent with our overall bank NIM mix. And you got to also -- you can't talk about new accounts without closed accounts and closed accounts were at the lowest level in four quarters.

嗯，我們仍然——我們真的很喜歡我們的新帳戶發起故事。因此，第一季的入職人數和金額都比第四季多。淨利差組合與我們的整體銀行淨利差組合一致。而且你還必須——你不能在沒有已關閉帳戶的情況下談論新帳戶，而已關閉帳戶的數量處於四個季度以來的最低水平。

So -- and of that -- of those new accounts, close to 40% were to customers that weren't here before, which we really love that trend. I think it talks about the Stellar brand, where we sit in the market, our success in having doors open for us. And we continue as we sit sixth in the MSA and deposit market share, kind of the opportunity to continue to take market share gains.

因此，在這些新帳戶中，近 40% 是以前沒有的客戶，我們真的很喜歡這種趨勢。我認為它談論的是 Stellar 品牌、我們在市場中的地位以及我們成功地打開了市場大門。我們在 MSA 和存款市場份額中繼續保持第六位，這對我們來說是一個繼續擴大市場份額的機會。

And that's notwithstanding our track record of not really being a market leader in price. We don't buy our deposit base. We work in a hard way, and it's reflective of the new account openings being skewed towards the way we want it, a lot of noninterest-bearing deposits and things along those lines.

儘管我們過去在價格方面並不是真正的市場領導者。我們不購買我們的存款基礎。我們工作很努力，這反映出新開戶的數量偏向我們想要的方式，很多無利息存款和類似的東西。

Okay. That's great. And then just maybe shifting gears to credit quickly. Not surprising to see some migration in nonaccruals. It seems like it's across several segments, but maybe notably in CRE. Obviously, you've got a track record of being really conservative on credit, very disciplined. I was just hoping you could touch on what you're seeing on the credit side and maybe what you're watching more closely and especially anything that you're maybe more concerned with just given the trade wars, tariff issues, those impacts, all those issues.

好的。那太棒了。然後也許就會迅速轉向信貸。看到非應計項目出現一定程度的遷移並不奇怪。它似乎涉及多個領域，但可能在 CRE 中特別突出。顯然，您在信貸方面一直非常保守，非常自律。我只是希望您能談談您在信貸方面看到的情況，以及您正在密切關注的情況，特別是考慮到貿易戰、關稅問題、這些影響以及所有這些問題，您可能更關心的任何事情。

Yes -- Joe. The migration was in the -- on the owner-occupied CRE, not -- I wouldn't classify it as anything related to tariffs or just some owner-occupied CRE with management issues, and then we noticed that and granted it appropriately and put appropriate reserves against it.

是的，喬。遷移發生在自住商業地產（CRE）上，而不是——我不會將其歸類為與關稅相關的任何事情，或者只是一些存在管理問題的自住商業地產，然後我們注意到了這一點，並給予了適當的批准，並為此設置了適當的儲備。

What we're seeing, as Ray said, it's a little early in this tariff issue to know how what's going to affect it. There's a lot of talking, but we haven't really seen too much in the way of any deteriorating financial reports from the customers. So I think it's a wait-and-see attitude, but we're just taking a cautious approach to it as we examine new credits and just wait and see what happens.

正如雷所說，我們看到，現在討論關稅問題將會產生怎樣的影響還為時過早。雖然有很多討論，但我們實際上並沒有看到客戶財務報告出現太多惡化。所以我認為這是一種觀望態度，但我們在審查新信貸時只是採取謹慎的態度，只是觀望會發生什麼。

Has there been any adjustments to underwriting or risk ratings or management as a result of this?

承保、風險評級或管理是否因此而做出調整？

No. I mean we've always had a strong focus on primary sources of cash flow. We'll continue to do that as we grade our credits and look at our credits. We want to know how we're going to get paid back and then what's the secondary source of repayment that will follow on behind that, it's coming from credit enhancement like guaranteed or additional collateral. But no, it's just a strong focus on operating cash flow.

不。我的意思是我們一直非常關注現金流的主要來源。在評估我們的學分並審查我們的學分時，我們將繼續這樣做。我們希望知道如何獲得償還，以及隨後的次要償還來源是什麼，它來自信用增進，例如擔保或額外抵押品。但事實並非如此，它只是高度關注經營現金流。

Okay. Perfect. Thanks, everybody.

好的。完美的。謝謝大家。

Matt Olney, Stephens.

馬特·奧爾尼、史蒂芬斯。

I want to dig more into capital. I think Paul mentioned the active buyback in the first quarter and even more activity in recent weeks. I think that makes a lot of sense considering the valuation and the capital. Just would love to hear just updated thoughts from capital from here, including consideration for additional debt redemption just with the context, of course, of just economic uncertainty.

我想進一步挖掘資本。我認為保羅提到了第一季的積極回購以及最近幾週的更多活動。考慮到估值和資本，我認為這很有意義。只是想聽聽資本方面的最新想法，包括在經濟不確定的背景下考慮額外債務償還。

Yeah, Matt, I think we're -- we continue with the same posture that we've had on trying to decide what the right use of the capital is. We continue to build capital at a pretty significant rate. There's some sub debt that we are thinking about possibly retiring. I think we weigh that versus the benefits of what buybacks might be or what refinancing that debt might look like and what the benefits of that are, but we're losing capital treatment on some of that sub debt.

是的，馬特，我認為我們——我們將繼續採取同樣的姿態，試圖決定如何正確使用資本。我們繼續以相當快的速度累積資本。我們正在考慮償還一些次級債務。我認為，我們權衡了這一點與回購或債務再融資可能帶來的好處以及這樣做的好處，但我們正在失去部分次級債務的資本處理。

So it's -- we're going to make a decision around that a little later in the year. But we continue to build capital, which allows us some flexibility. It's certainly enough capital for what we think our growth is going to be over the next couple of years. And so we have the ability to use it for some other things at this point.

所以——我們將在今年稍後就此做出決定。但我們繼續累積資本，這給了我們一定的彈性。我們認為，對於未來幾年的成長而言，這筆資金肯定足夠了。因此我們現在有能力將它用於其他一些事情。

We haven't given up on M&A. I think M&A is still out there for us, although I think it's been put on hold like a lot of folks. But I think people are still talking. We're still talking. We're still talking to folks about transactions. I think it's a little bit different if you think about public to public versus public to private, those conversations are a bit different. And most of ours tend to be with the private at this point.

我們並沒有放棄併購。我認為我們仍然可以進行併購，儘管我認為它和許多人一樣被擱置了。但我認為人們仍在談論。我們仍在交談。我們仍在與大家討論交易事宜。我認為，如果你考慮到公眾與公眾之間的對話和公眾與私人之間的對話，情況會有所不同。而我們大多數人此時都傾向於保持私密。

But -- so all of these things are still on the table. And I think we're going to have to balance that out over the rest of the year as to what the best place and utilization of that capital is. But that's kind of how we're approaching it.

但是——所有這些事情仍然在討論中。我認為，我們必須在今年剩餘時間內平衡這一點，以確定這些資本的最佳用途和利用方式。但這就是我們處理這個問題的方式。

Okay. Appreciate that. And I guess other capital options, some of that your peers are considering at this point. I'm curious if this is on your radar as far as a focus, just whether it's I think, security purchases, whether it's kind of a smaller wholesale trade with some wholesale funding or a few years ago, I think you guys purchased some loans as well. Are those other options are being considered? Or is the focus still on, like you said, the buyback with kind of a longer-term eye on M&A?

好的。非常感謝。我想您的同行目前正在考慮其他一些資​​本選擇。我很好奇這是否是你們關注的重點，我認為是證券購買，還是某種規模較小的批發貿易和一些批發融資，或者幾年前，我認為你們也買了一些貸款。是否正在考慮其他選擇？或者像您所說的那樣，重點仍然放在回購上，同時著眼於長期併購？

Yeah. I mean we're a core bank. And this is where we keep our focus. We don't manage this thing on a quarter-by-quarter basis. We've got a very good game plan around what we want this to look like in the markets that we're in. And we're on track to build this bank the way that we think that it ought to be built in our market. So to do something on an ad hoc basis is probably not in our DNA.

是的。我的意思是我們是一家核心銀行。這正是我們關注的重點。我們不是按季度來管理這件事的。對於我們希望在我們所處的市場中實現什麼樣子，我們有一個非常好的計劃。我們正在按照我們認為適合我們市場的方式來建立這家銀行。因此，臨時做某事可能不符合我們的天性。

So we're going to continue on an organic basis to focus on our -- the great markets that we're in, look for opportunities to add the partnership with someone else in the future, and then we can look at dividends or buybacks as those opportunities arise. I think we tend to like buybacks just because from a tax standpoint, it seems to be a little bit better way to return capital to shareholders, although dividends are nice also. So we'll continue to manage that as we go along.

因此，我們將繼續以有機的方式關注我們所處的偉大市場，尋找未來與其他人建立合作夥伴關係的機會，然後當這些機會出現時，我們可以考慮股息或回購。我認為我們傾向於回購只是因為從稅收的角度來看，這似乎是向股東返還資本的更好的方式，儘管股息也不錯。因此，我們會繼續管理這個問題。

And for what it's worth, you've seen both. We increased dividends in the fourth quarter, and we've chosen to be selectively active on the share repurchase. So we appreciate that flexibility, and we think we sit in the catbird seat relating to having a lot of -- plenty of options and an ability to do a lot of things. But I'll end where Bob started. Our goal is to continue to be a core bank.

不管怎樣，您已經看到了這兩者。我們在第四季度增加了股息，我們選擇有選擇地積極進行股票回購。因此，我們重視這種靈活性，並且我們認為我們處於有利地位，擁有很多選擇，並且有能力做很多事情。但我將以鮑伯開始的地方作為結束。我們的目標是繼續成為一家核心銀行。

Okay. Appreciate the commentary there. And then I guess, switching gears, the other positive theme in the quarter that I saw was just a nice improvement on your interest-bearing deposit costs. Would love to appreciate just how much more room you think you have to bring that down, whether the Fed kind of stays put or continues to cut rates and then core margin ticks a little bit higher. I'd love to appreciate your view of kind of the outlook there.

好的。感謝那裡的評論。然後我想，換個話題，我看到的本季度的另一個積極主題是您的計息存款成本有了很好的改善。我很想知道，您認為還有多少空間可以降低這一水平，無論聯準會是維持利率不變還是繼續降息，然後核心利潤率會略微上升。我很想了解您對那裡的前景的看法。

Certainly. Well, the first quarter, we saw the, what I'll call full-quarter impact of a lot of the rate activity you saw in the back half of the year, including in the fourth quarter. And it's -- we work every day to try and optimize that mix, but we kind of see that we've gotten most of what we could out of that. Note, our cost of deposits did not skew as high as a lot of our peers. So we're going to continue to work on working that down. But ultimately, it's going to continue to be a slog.

當然。嗯，在第一季度，我們看到了下半年（包括第四季度）許多利率活動對整個季度的影響。而且我們每天都在努力嘗試優化這種組合，但我們發現我們已經從中獲得了大部分成果。請注意，我們的存款成本並不像許多同業那麼高。因此我們將繼續努力解決這個問題。但最終，這仍將是一場艱苦的戰鬥。

I don't think we're going to have -- or we'll see the same kind of improvement in the second quarter from the first quarter. But day by day, that's our job to continue to drive an optimal mix of deposits and try to grow that base. So we'll be working just as hard, but the incremental return in terms of improvement is going to be hard to compete with this prior quarter's improvement.

我認為，第二季我們不會看到與第一季相同的改善。但日復一日，我們的工作就是繼續推動最佳存款組合併努力擴大存款基礎。因此，我們將同樣努力地工作，但就改進而言，增量回報將很難與上一季的改進相提並論。

Okay. And Paul, I guess the last part of that question was just around the core margin. I think the 3.97% ex the accretion. I would love to hear thoughts on kind of directionally where that could go.

好的。保羅，我想這個問題的最後一部分只是關於核心邊緣的問題。我認為 3.97% 是扣除增值部分之後的。我很想聽聽大家對於這一方向的看法。

Well, we're pleased with showing incremental improvement, 3 basis points quarter over quarter. Our goal would be to get a 4 handle back on our core net interest margin, excluding purchase accounting adjustments. And we think we're on that path. It's just given a lot of the uncertainty, we'd rather under promise and outperform on that front. I think every basis point from here is going to be a win. And we're just keeping our nose down to drive a core balance sheet.

嗯，我們很高興看到逐步的改善，比上一季度提高了 3 個基點。我們的目標是將核心淨利差恢復到 4 個百分點（不包括購買會計調整）。我們認為我們正走在這條道路上。只是考慮到很多不確定性，我們寧願少承諾，多表現。我認為從現在開始的每一個基點都將是勝利。我們只是埋頭苦幹，努力實現核心資產負債表。

And with that, we believe, will come incremental improvement. But we're already in rare air. So every basis point we get from here is going to be considered a pretty good win, and we're going to continue to work on it.

我們相信，這將會帶來逐步的改善。但我們已經處於稀薄的空氣中。因此，我們從這裡獲得的每一個基點都將被視為相當不錯的勝利，我們將繼續努力。

Okay. Thanks for taking my questions. I'll step back.

好的。感謝您回答我的問題。我會退後。

(Operator Instructions) Will Jones, KBW.

（操作員指示）威爾瓊斯，KBW。

So I wanted to circle back to the growth conversation. Ray, maybe if you could just help us frame what you kind of see and know is upcoming on the paydown front? I know it's been obviously a headwind for you guys, but more so a headwind for the broader industry. So just so we understand what the bar to chin is on the paydown front?

所以我想回到成長話題。雷，也許你可以幫助我們概括一下你所看到和知道的即將發生的還款情況？我知道這對你們來說顯然是一個逆風，但對整個行業來說更是如此。那麼，我們是不是可以理解償還貸款的門檻是多少？

And then just to the comments about growth being more back-end loaded. I know that you guys are used to kind of growing in that 5% to 8% range. But would you expect we kind of immediately get back to that level? Or is it really more of a slow grind higher as we move into the latter half of 2025?

然後只是關於增長更多地依賴後端的評論。我知道你們已經習慣了 5% 到 8% 範圍內的成長。但您是否希望我們能立即回到那個水平？或者，隨著我們進入 2025 年下半年，它真的會是一個緩慢上升的過程嗎？

Yeah, Will, on payoffs, I mean, I think what we feel the kind of the behavior of the portfolio is something like $275 million to $300 million a quarter is kind of what we're experiencing in absolute dollar terms. On the growth side, I think we talked about going into the years more like low- to mid-single digits. And obviously, we had the down in the first quarter. But again, as I said earlier, it's going to really come in two areas.

是的，威爾，關於回報，我的意思是，我認為我們認為投資組合的行為大約是每季 2.75 億美元到 3 億美元，以絕對美元計算，這就是我們所經歷的。在成長方面，我認為我們談論的是未來幾年的低至中等個位數的成長。顯然，我們在第一季處於劣勢。但正如我之前所說，它實際上將體現在兩個方面。

One is the -- just what's funded of new production and then also where we start to see advances exceed payments. So I think as we see that pipeline build and those originations start to increase, that should result in getting us over the payoffs and turn into growth. But again, as Bob mentioned in the beginning, we think that will be in the last -- second half of the year.

一是－新產品的資金來源，二是我們開始看到預付款超過付款。因此我認為，隨著我們看到管道建設和這些起源開始增加，這應該會讓我們獲得回報並轉化為成長。但正如鮑勃一開始提到的那樣，我們認為這將在今年下半年發生。

Yeah. Great. Okay. That's helpful color right there. I wanted to also circle back just on the margin. I appreciate the new slide, slide 9, the repricing slide. That's really great. It really helps kind of frame and visualize what the fixed repricing opportunity is. And it really seems like moving beyond 2025, there is still a pretty meaningful repricing story out there. But just curious today on new loans, where you're seeing pricing come in and what you're kind of seeing from a competitive standpoint on loan pricing?

是的。偉大的。好的。那是有用的顏色。我也想回到邊緣。我很欣賞新的投影片，第 9 張投影片，即重新定價投影片。這真是太棒了。它確實有助於建立和直觀地展示固定重新定價機會。而且看起來，過了 2025 年，仍然有一個相當有意義的重新定價故事。但我只是好奇今天對於新貸款，您看到的定價來自哪裡，以及從競爭的角度來看貸款定價是什麼樣的？

Yeah. Well, I mean, it is competitive for the good loans. So -- but first quarter, our loan originations came on at a weighted average rate of 729 and our renewed loans came on at 748.

是的。嗯，我的意思是，優質貸款很有競爭力。因此 — — 但第一季度，我們的貸款發放量加權平均利率為 729，續借貸款量加權平均利率為 748。

Okay. And are you still sticking kind of within the same fixed versus variable SKU in terms of the broader portfolio? Is it really kind of more of a 50-50 mix?

好的。就更廣泛的產品組合而言，您是否仍堅持相同的固定與可變 SKU？這真的是 50-50 的混合嗎？

Correct. On the new, yeah; on what's going on new, yeah.

正確的。關於新事物，是的；關於正在發生的新事物，是的。

Okay. Great. And then just lastly for me. I mean, (inaudible) the expense story this quarter was really quite positive. I know we kind of talked about being more in that $295 million range for this year. I know it's not as simple as just annualizing what you guys did this quarter, and it sounds like there may be a little bit of timing differences with some costs that are coming through. But could you just help us appreciate where you see expenses trending maybe into the next quarter and the balance of the year?

好的。偉大的。最後，對我來說。我的意思是，（聽不清楚）本季的支出確實相當正面。我知道我們討論過今年的預算將超過 2.95 億美元。我知道這並不像將你們本季所做的事情按年計算那麼簡單，而且聽起來一些成本的產生可能會存在一些時間差異。但是您能否幫助我們了解下個季度以及今年剩餘時間的支出趨勢？

Certainly. We work every day on expenses, and we would caution against annualizing the first quarter, although we have our notes to grindstone as it relates to managing expenses, but also -- we want to be as thoughtful as possible about continuing to invest in the business and what's going to drive growth on a go-forward basis.

當然。我們每天都在處理開支，我們提醒不要將第一季的開支年度化，儘管我們在管理開支方面有自己的筆記，但同時，我們希望盡可能深思熟慮地繼續對業務進行投資，並考慮什麼將推動未來的成長。

So we look at this quarter as something that we can hold our heads high with respect to. And we like our chances of beating that prior guidance, but we will continue to see incremental investment while always holding the line where we can.

因此，我們認為本季是值得驕傲的。我們希望有機會超越先前的預期，但我們將繼續增加投資，同時始終盡可能保持投資底線。

Some of -- probably about 50% of the relative beat there was on timing-related things that are likely going to come later in the month, particularly as it relates to professional services fees and certain external audits and things along those lines that have to get done on a time -- in a timely manner. So not all of it will get pushed into the next year, but we are as diligent as we've ever been, and we're very pleased with our performance on expenses year to date.

大約有 50% 的相對超支與時間有關，這些事情可能會在本月稍後發生，特別是與專業服務費和某些外部審計以及必須按時完成的類似事情有關。因此，並非所有支出都會推遲到明年，但我們會像以前一樣勤奮，並且對今年迄今為止的支出表現非常滿意。

Yeah, okay. Grateful. Nice work there. Thanks for the question, guys.

嗯，好的。感激的。做得很好。謝謝大家的提問。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the call over to Bob Franklin for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把電話交給鮑伯·富蘭克林來做結束語。

Very good. Thank you very much for joining our first-quarter call. And with that, have a great weekend.

非常好。非常感謝您參加我們的第一季電話會議。祝您週末愉快。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入，現在可以斷開連線了。