United Community Banks, Inc. functions as the parent entity for United Community Bank, through which it delivers a comprehensive array of financial ...
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Operator: Good morning, and welcome to United Community Bank's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Hosting the call today are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Harton; Chief Financial Officer, Jefferson Harralson; Chief Banking Officer, Rich Bradshaw; and Chief Risk Officer, Rob Edwards. United's presentation today includes references to operating earnings, pretax, free credit earnings and other non-GAAP financial information. For these non-GAAP financial measures, United has provided a reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP financial measure in the Financial Highlights section of the earnings release as well as at the end of the investor presentation. Both are included on the website at ucbi.com. Copies of the second quarter's earnings release and investor presentation were filed this morning on Form 8-K with the SEC and a replay of this call will be available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at ucbi.com. Please be aware that during this call, forward-looking statements may be made by representatives of United. Any forward-looking statements should be considered in light of risks and uncertainties described on Page 5 and 6 of the company's 2025 Form 10-K as well as other information provided by the company in its filings with the SEC and included on its website. At this time, I will turn the call over to Lynn Harton. Herbert Harton: Good morning, and thank you for joining our call today. This was a great quarter with solid results and progress on our strategic goals. We had a large nonoperating item from the Navitas reserve release this quarter, which Jefferson will cover in more detail later. For now, leaving that aside, I will focus on our operating results. On that basis, EPS of $0.71 per share was up 8% over last year. Total revenue was up 7% over last year. Our net interest margins reached 3.68%, up 18 basis points over last year and up 3 basis points from last quarter. Credit results were solid with bank-only net charge-offs of 9 basis points and total net charge-offs of only 16 basis points. Past dues were very low at only 11 basis points and special mention and substandard accruing loans were at the lowest level in several quarters at only 2.5%. Loan growth reached 6.8% annualized for the quarter. More importantly, organic loan growth, excluding Navitas, was the strongest it has been in some time, reaching 6.4% annualized for the quarter. For comparison, it was 4.3% for the year of 2025 and 3.9% annualized for the first quarter of this year. This is due to our investment in hiring new producers. When we decided early last year that it was time to sell Navitas and refocus on our core franchise, we spent time developing a playbook and strategy to put the same effort and attention we have paid to integrating merged teammates into hiring new revenue producers. We began executing that plan in the third quarter of last year and have seen net expansion of 17% in producers since that time. We're pleased …
| Metric | Latest | YoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength. |
|---|
| Name | Title | Compensation | Gender | Year Born | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Herbert Lynn Harton | President, Chairman & CEO | USD 3,422,777 | Male | 1962 | Active |
Richard William Bradshaw | President & Chief Banking Officer |
| USD 1,790,642 |
| Male |
| 1962 |
| Active |
Jefferson Lee Harralson | Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer | USD 1,299,851 | Male | 1966 | Active |
Melinda Davis Lux | Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | USD 1,274,351 | Female | 1973 | Active |
Robert A. Edwards | Executive Vice President & Chief Risk Officer | USD 1,001,899 | Male | 1965 | Active |
Carol A. Chastain | Chief Compliance Officer | — | Female | — | Active |
Holly Berry | Chief Human Resources Officer | — | Female | 1975 | Active |
Mark Aaron Terry | Chief Information Officer | — | Male | 1967 | Active |
Abraham A. Cox | Chief Consumer and Small Business Banking Officer | — | Male | 1977 | Active |
Alan H. Kumler | Chief Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President & Controller | — | Male | — | Active |
Est. EPS $0.74 · Revenue $277.20M · 5 analysts
$1.00 per share
Est. EPS $0.75
| 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). | $1.5B | +3.8% | +1.3% |
| 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. | $328.1M | +30.0% | +37.2% |
| 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. | +66.0% | +11.1% | +14.8% |
| 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). | +27.5% | +26.0% | +26.0% |
| 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. | +21.4% | +25.2% | +35.4% |
| 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. | $407.7M | +34.7% | +94.7% |
| 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. | +26.5% | +29.7% | +92.1% |
| 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. | 5.6% | -56.9% | +208.2% |
| 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. | 47.49x | +22184.2% | +6676.7% |
| 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. | $28.0B | +1.0% | +3.1% |
| Metric | Annual (A vs E) | Annual Surprise | Quarter (A vs E) | Quarter Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS Surprise | 2.62 vs 2.71 | -3.2% | 0.95 vs 0.74 | +28.7% |
| Revenue Surprise | $1.5B vs $1.1B | +45.0% | $382.8M vs $277.2M | +38.1% |
| Date | Executive | Title | Security | Side | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | KUMLER ALAN H | officer: SVP, Chief Accounting Officer | Common Stock | A | 2,932 | — |
| Aug 15, 2026 | KUMLER ALAN H | officer: SVP, Chief Accounting Officer | Common Stock | D | 514 | $36.74 |
| Aug 10, 2026 | Carande Carl Steven | director | Common Stock | A | 2,101 | $35.35 |
| Aug 1, 2026 | Carande Carl Steven | director | Common Stock | A | 1,588 | — |
| Aug 1, 2026 | Carande Carl Steven | director | Common Stock | — | 0 | — |
