Camden National Corporation (NASDAQ:CAC) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Damon DelMonte: Okay. That’s helpful. And then I guess kind of circling back on the margin. I understand the swaps are going to help the margin a bit going forward. But as we look at the kind of the overall margin in the direction and continued decline, I mean do you think like this quarter was kind of the peak compression for you guys, and we could see further compression, but at a much slower pace.

Greg Dufour: Yes. I think that last part of your statement is fair. I think that’s how we are thinking about it is we do anticipate some further compression next quarter. But we are – we have seen it in over just recent months starting to slow a little bit, which is a positive sign. So, as we think about second quarter, we are probably down a few basis points from margin as many as probably higher-single digits as well. I think that’s pretty good estimate right now. I think the mix or the deposit mix shift is something that we are keeping a close eye on internally. We are also very focused to see how seasonal deposits come back in, and as we anticipate that at call it, later in May into June and what that starts to shape up to be. At this point, I am not trying to signal that we have concerns about seasonal deposits coming in. I think it’s more what is that mix when they do.

Damon DelMonte: Got it. Okay. And do you happen to have the margin for the month of March and/or the cost of deposits for the month of March?

Greg Dufour: Our margin for March was $251 million.

Damon DelMonte: Okay. That’s helpful. Alright. That’s all I had. Thank you very much.

Greg Dufour: Thanks Damon.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from Matthew Breese with Stephens. Please proceed.

Matthew Breese: Hi. Good afternoon. Michael, I missed the last part of that margin guide. I heard the 2 basis points, but then you said something about higher-single digits. Could you just repeat?

Mike Archer: Sure. Yes. So, I think next quarter, we will see – we anticipate anywhere from low-single digit margin compression to the higher end. I don’t know if that’s, call it, $250 million to – could be as low as $240 million. But again, I think it’s kind of in that ballpark is what we are thinking right now.

Matthew Breese: Okay. And then you discussed kind of a slowdown in loan growth, totally appreciate that. What about overall deposit growth ex-brokered? What are you expecting for the remainder of the year in terms of kind of core deposit growth?

Mike Archer: Yes. I think on that front, I think in the near-term on core deposits, we anticipate that it will be fairly flat for the next quarter, at least on an average basis. I do think that we will potentially see some of that start to pick up from an end to end, just as we get the seasonal inflows. And I think realistically, I mean again, I would tell you that we are working the deposit channel is hard. We have lots of various promotions going on internally, whether it’s CDs or money markets, certainly working the operating accounts and checking accounts as well. But it is hard to forecast right now, but we are, I would say, low to mid-single digits is kind of what we are estimating or we would certainly hope for.

Greg Dufour: And Matt, this is Greg. Maybe just to highlight what Mike was saying and the components of it is to play out the seasonal deposit flow. We will understand that over the next few months as well as just call it, our marketing activities and sales activities ramping up with the undercurrent underneath it all, very competitive as it is for all markets that all banks are in for deposits and pricing right now.

Matthew Breese: Understood. Maybe in terms of the overall securities portfolio, it’s been down for the last four quarters, five quarters. Should we expect continued runoff there?

Greg Dufour: Yes. I think in the near-term, the short answer is yes, Matt. We continue to redeploy those cash flows to fund the level of loan growth – to help fund the level of loan growth that we have. But I think we are also thinking about it in terms of just paying down borrowings at this point as well.