Business First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) serves as the bank holding company for b1BANK, delivering an extensive array of banking products and financial ...
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Est. EPS $0.74 · Revenue $93.18M · 3 analysts
Est. EPS $0.81 · Revenue $95.44M · 3 analysts
Est. EPS $3.00 · Revenue $368.34M · 3 analysts
Est. EPS $0.77 · Revenue $94.85M · 1 analysts
$0.60 per share
$0.60 per share
| Metric | Latest | YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength. | QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes. |
|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three). | $511.9M | +11.8% | -54.2% |
| Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day. | $87.9M | +34.9% | +2.6% |
| Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials. | +60.9% | +7.5% | -69.7% |
| Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on). | +22.2% | +22.0% | -318.5% |
| Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales. | +17.2% | +20.7% | +124.1% |
| Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock. | $92.1M | +53.9% | -3.2% |
| FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine. | +18.0% | +37.6% | +111.5% |
| Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe. | 61.5% | +1.7% | +57.5% |
| Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking. | 0.15x | +154.1% | +1136.2% |
| Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground. | $8.2B | +4.6% | -0.0% |
| Metric | Annual (A vs E) | Annual Surprise | Quarter (A vs E) | Quarter Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS Surprise | 2.78 vs 2.74 | +1.3% | 0.70 vs 0.70 | 0.0% |
| Revenue Surprise | $511.9M vs $318.2M | +60.9% | $61.2M vs $91.3M | -32.9% |
| Date | Executive | Title | Security | Side | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 2026 | Cummings George W. III | director | COMMON STOCK | D | 10,000 | $31.33 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Cummings George W. III | director | COMMON STOCK | D | 4,200 | $31.27 |
| Aug 19, 2026 | Cummings George W. III | director | COMMON STOCK | D | 3,235 | $31.80 |
| Aug 18, 2026 | Cummings George W. III | director | COMMON STOCK | D | 10,000 | $31.78 |
| Aug 6, 2026 | Carter Donald Chad | officer: EVP, Correspondent Banking | COMMON STOCK | D | 1,875 | $31.64 |
Operator : Greetings, and welcome to the Business First Bancshares second quarter 2026 earnings call. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Matt Sealy, Senior Vice President, Director, Corporate Strategy and FP&A. You may begin. Matthew Sealy : Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining. Earlier today, we issued our second quarter 2026 earnings press release, a copy of which is available on our website along with the slide presentation that we will reference during today's call. Please refer to slide 3 of our presentation, which includes our safe harbor statements regarding forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP financial measures. For those of you joining by phone, please note that the slide presentation is available on our website at www.b1bank.com. Please also note our safe harbor statements are available on page 6 of our earnings press release that was filed with the SEC today. All comments made during today's call are subject to the safe harbor statements in our slide presentation and earnings release. I'm joined this afternoon by Business First Bancshares Chairman and CEO, Jude Melville; Chief Financial Officer, Greg Robertson; Chief Banking Officer, Philip Jordan, and President of b1BANK, Jerry Vascocu. After the presentation, we'll be happy to address any questions you may have. And with that, I'll turn the call over to you, Jude. Jude Melville : Okay, thanks, Matt. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us today. b1BANK had an encouragingly solid second quarter, one that met or exceeded the progress we've been articulating for you over the past few quarters and one that positions us well for a strong second half of 2026. As an example, we returned to our normalized rate of loan production, driving a healthy increase in net interest income. In addition to the production in the second quarter, which came in a relatively balanced way across our footprint, we built a significant pipeline, particularly in the Houston area that we expect will translate into sustained growth for the remainder of the year. Margin expanded by 8 basis points during the quarter, driven partly by disciplined loan and deposit pricing. We also executed a relatively sizable loan sale that we believe will create additional margin opportunity as we redeploy those proceeds into higher-earning assets over the next two quarters. Our team made meaningful progress on the credit front, reducing non-performing loans by about 30% in line with the progress we forecasted at the beginning of the quarter. And we anticipate continued improvement on that front over the remainder of the year. Revenue from our Financial Services Group is running roughly 20% ahead of last year's pace at the halfway mark of the year. Near the end of the quarter, we added a new partner and product, Jeff Fair with American Planning Corp., which provides CFO-type consulting services to community banks within our footprint. I say new, but Jeff is actually a 20-year collaborator …
| Name | Title | Compensation | Gender | Year Born | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
David R. Melville | Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer | USD 1,516,152 | Male | 1975 | Active |
Norman Jerome Vascocu Jr. | President of b1BANK | USD 938,172 | Male | 1974 | Active |
Heather Gatte Roemer | Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer | USD 702,738 | Female | 1982 | Active |
Gregory Robertson | Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer | USD 690,845 | Male | 1972 | Active |
Keith Mansfield | Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer | USD 688,476 | Male | 1977 | Active |
Philip Jordan | Executive Vice President & Chief Banking Officer | USD 675,606 | Male | 1973 | Active |
Saundra Strong | Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | USD 470,142 | Female | 1979 | Active |
Warren McDonald | Executive Vice President & Chief Credit Officer | — | Male | 1967 | Active |
Senna Bayasgalan | Chief Marketing Officer | — | Female | — | Active |
Kathryn Manning | Executive Vice President & Chief Risk Officer | — | Female | 1989 | Active |
The transaction involved the open-market sale of 3,235 shares at $31.80 per share, totaling ~$103,000 on August 19, 2026. The disposition reduced the Director's total equity holdings by 2%.
Connor Clark and Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: BFST) during the undefined quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 49,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,520,000. Connor Clark and Lunn
With strong returns so far in 2026, George W. Cummings III reducing his direct holdings looks routine more than it does alarming.
The director disposed of 20,000 shares at $31.79 per share, representing a total transaction value of $635,800. This disposition reduced the director's total equity holdings by 8%.
Business First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
