ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Rodney Rushing: It wasn’t — I don’t think it was a fluctuation of correspondent banks. As you know if that was — had anything to do with the conversion. We’ll have to get back to you on that. I did not see the big decline in correspondent service charges, but we’ll have to look into that and just get back to you.

David Bishop: Okay. You can do that maybe offline. And then just — if you have it, just curious, maybe an update, I know you provided last quarter on the commercial real estate book, the office book, any change there? I know it’s a small part of the puzzle here, but I know the investor public is focused on it, just any sort of inter-quarter details you can update us on.

Henry Abbott: This is Henry Abbott. Yes, no material change. As I kind of mentioned in my comments, AT&T is down overall CRE income producing is down. Specific to office that’s still around. And this is nonowner-occupied office is only 3.5% of our total loan portfolio. So it’s not a material amount. And as I mentioned, kind of theory as a whole was down for the quarter.

Operator: Our next question is from Kevin Fitzsimmons with D.A. Davidson.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: Just want to circle back on the margin again. So if I heard you right, what you said is you expected it was down 22 bps this quarter, but you expect it to stabilize in third and then begin to expand in fourth. And I just want to make sure I heard that right. It seems like with one more Fed rate hike, what we’re hearing from a number of banks is there’ll be more margin pressure in third quarter, but probably a little less than what we saw in second and then beginning to stabilize in the fourth. So I’m just wondering whether maybe the loan repricing, coupled with maybe a little more steady balance in the noninterest-bearing and the overall deposit growth is just maybe — is maybe stabilizing your margin a little earlier than others. So I just wanted to dig into that, if that’s right.

William Foshee: Yes. Kevin, this is Bud. you’re right. you’re right on.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: Okay. Okay. So…

Thomas Broughton: More than affirmation, I mean the NIB stable, and we’re repricing loans, our projection shows that we can keep the margin steady at this point and then it will start to expand in the next couple or 3 months, not a whole lot, but then get into the fourth quarter, I mean, it will start going up a couple of bps a month and something — it starts getting up to it starts clawing its way back. So we think the Chinese water torture is over, which has been Chinese water torture. So we think it’s over. And that we’re head in the right direction and there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: That’s good to hear. Good to hear. And maybe if I could just ask about expenses. Bud, if I heard you right, did you say third quarter is going to be like the first quarter run rate, not the second quarter? I just want to make sure I heard that right.

William Foshee: That’s correct. That’s correct. Yes, we’ll have to increase some. So it will be in line with first quarter.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: Okay. And just more — I think you mentioned in the expense discussion comments that it was pretty limited number of new headcount that if you’re hiring in one area, you’re looking to produce — revenue producers, you’re looking to reduce staff in others. And as always, the efficiency ratio is best-in-class. But trying to connect the dots, Tom, to your point about feeling better about loan growth and about the economy and the industry. And given that there’s disruption out there, do you foresee opportunities to hire away folks? And if you’re feeling better about the backdrop of the economy, might you do that sooner rather than later?