Buying dollars for $0.76 in Bergen, Ocean & Monmouth counties?
Trading at 76% of TBV and 7.1x MRQ (no yield). $124M cap and $1.1B assets, HQ in Lakewood with deposit share mostly in Bergen, Ocean and Monmouth Counties in NJ. It’s another stock that traded higher for most of the past 5 years and doesn’t seem to have much of any institutional following, which is fine by me. I can wait.
The bank lags peers in Non-Interest Income and NPAs and Restructured are a little high at 1.64% (of assets), but I put some faith in the 22%+ insider-held to navigate those credit issues smartly, and supported by the strong LLR. A few years ago, CMRB had higher NPAs and not nearly as attractive of a deposit mix, but even then it was trading at higher multiples, and they’ve improved on those issues quite a bit since then.
It's when you spend some time reviewing all the bank operating metrics that I think the compelling story is told -- see full BI board notes for details.
Disclosure: As of this posting, I own shares of First Commerce Bank (CMRB) and may subsequently either dispose of them or purchase more.
Caveat emptor: These are only personal perspectives and observations that may be erroneous and self-serving, and certainly NOT investment advice.
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