Alerus Financial Corporation (ALRS) Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning, and welcome to the Alerus Financial Corporation Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Today's call will reference slides that can be found on Alerus Investor Relations website. You can also view the presentation slides directly within the webcast platform. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. This call may include forward-looking statements and company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in any forward-looking statements. Important factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, are listed in the earnings release and the company's SEC filings. I would now like to turn the conference over to Alerus Financial Corporation President and CEO, Katie O'Neill Lorenson. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Joining me today on the call is Forrest Wilson, our Chief Retirement Services Officer; Al Villalon, our Chief Financial Officer; Jim Collins, our Chief Revenue Officer; and Karin Taylor, our Chief Operating Officer. . We are pleased to be here with you all today to discuss another strong quarter of results. Total revenue for the quarter of $81 million was our highest level in our nearly 150-year history. It drove earnings per share up nearly 17% from a year ago, and a return on tangible common equity of 17%. Our business mix and diversified operating model continued to support solid returns and continued balance sheet strengthening. These results reflect consistent execution of our strategic priorities and strong collaboration across our organization. Our purposefully built diversified model continues to deliver strong results. Return on average assets was 1.45%, and net interest income grew over 8% year-over-year. Noninterest income grew nearly 17% earning 42% of total revenue, a level that continues to set us apart and fuels our continued and future success. Wealth Advisory revenue grew 22% from a year ago and retirement and benefits grew 7%, both from recurring revenue with minimal capital allocations. In wealth, we are strengthening both our growth capabilities and the scalability of our business. We implemented updated fee schedules during the quarter, better aligning pricing services we deliver with minimal client attrition. Looking ahead, our priorities include expanding institutional and high net worth relationships, adding advisers strategically across our markets and aligning our service model with clients' needs and complexity. Our success with business owner liquidity events and retirement spend continues to demonstrate One Alerus. These efforts deepen client relations to more scalable and sustainable wealth business. In Retirement, we are focused on optimization of the operation through modernization of technology, streamlining onboarding and reducing manual work to improve service and build capacity. We believe the sequencing of our reinvestment is well timed given the catalyst for consolidation we see over the next several years, positioning us for more organic growth, strategic opportunities, higher profitability and greater operating leverage. In banking, our fee income grew 11%, led by higher swap fee income and treasury management fees. Our strategic shift towards full relationship commercial and private banking is gaining traction. In this quarter, we saw solid broad-based commercial loan and deposit growth. Our teams won new commercial clients across all markets. And commercial and business loans are up nearly 37% from a year ago and now represent well over the loan portfolio. Synergistic deposits from our retirement and wealth businesses are 22% of total deposits and HSA deposits are up 9% from year end and an average cost of just 10 basis points. This provides a meaningful funding advantage and the company continues to operate with no broker deposits. Expense discipline remains central to our strategy, and we are investing selectively in technology and growth with a clear expectation that these investments improve service, expand capacity and strengthen our productivity. Our focus is wiring that progress into sustainable operating leverage while managing ongoing cost pressures. Our balance sheet is also in a stronger position than a year ago. Nonperforming loans are 17 basis points of total loans and nonperforming assets have fallen from 1.13% of assets a year ago to 30 basis points. Criticized loans are down more than 55% from a year ago, and we had net recoveries in the quarter of 10 basis points. Credit quality continues to improve, and leading indicators remain strong. A small number of long-term and previously identified credits nearing maturity are being worked through in the ordinary course of credit management. Reserve levels remained solid at 1.23% of loans and CET1 is 10.5%, well above our regulatory requirements. Our balance sheet and business model strength drives value creation and net value grew nearly 11% from a year ago. We repurchased stock and paid a dividend, which in total, led to returning over $37 million to shareholders through the first 9 months. Our capital priorities are unchanged, to support organic growth, return capital to our shareholders and maintain flexibility for strategic opportunities. Of course, none of this success happens without our people. We have a team that blends deep institutional experience with fresh energy and new ideas, and it's the combined strength of that talent across every role and every tenure that is making Alerus not just bigger but better and implores great people want to build great careers. The momentum across our franchise is strong. We remain focused on bringing holistic solutions to our clients, investing in our businesses and sustaining a culture of right accountability and performance. Alerus is well positioned as both employer and an acquirer of choice. Our diversification of recurring revenue and relationship-driven growth sets us apart with clients, partners and investors. Above all, we remain committed to delivering strong, consistent returns and creating long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Al to review the quarter in more detail.

Thanks, Katie. Let's start on Page 7 on investor deck, which is posted on the Investor Relations section of our website. I want to frame the quarter around 3 themes: strong loan growth funded by relationship deposits, a stable to improving core margin and continued excellent credit and shareholder value creation. We reported diluted EPS of $0.76 and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.71. Difference is a $1.6 million net gain on the sale of premises, which we exclude from adjusted results. Compared to the third quarter of last year, reported EPS increased 17% and adjusted EPS increased 8%. Return on average tangible common equity was 17.35% and return on average assets was 1.45%. The reported comparison is affected by 2 items from the second quarter that did not repeat, a $1.6 million onetime interim recovery on a nonaccrual loan resolution and higher payoff related purchase accounting of accretion. We also recorded a $2.2 million provision in the third quarter, reflecting strong loan growth in the quarter and updates to qualitative factors. Excluding those items, the underlying earnings engine continued to strengthen. Adjusted pre-provision net revenue was up 17% from a year ago. Tangible book value per share was $18.74, essentially flat from June 30 despite an increase in unrealized losses on securities from higher rates and $8.2 million of share repurchases and down 11% from a year ago. Through the first 9 months, we returned $37.2 million to shareholders through dividends and repurchase. Let's turn to Page 16 to talk about earning assets. Total loans increased $150.5 million or 3.7% from June 30. Commercial loans increased $169 million, partially offset by a $10.4 million, a decline in consumer loans. Growth was in commercial and industrial loans up about $100 million, and owner-occupied CRE of about $70 million for multifamily CRE and residential mortgage balances declined modestly. Production was the strongest we have seen this year. New originations and renewals were $375 million and advances were $70 million, more than offsetting $208 million of payoffs. Importantly, new loans continue to originate at higher rates than our legacy portfolio rate, which supports continued improvement in core loan yields. In the upcoming quarters, we anticipate a little over $300 million of loan turnover per quarter. The investment portfolio increased $6.2 million or 0.8% as paydowns and maturities were reinvested. We continue to reinvest portfolio cash flows at yields above the existing portfolio yield avoiding supports to the margin. Overall, the balance sheet remains neutrally positioned to interest rate changes over a 12-month horizon. Turning to deposits on Page 17. Total deposits increased $111.3 million or 2.7% from June 30, primarily driven by growth in commercial deposits. Commercial loan growth brought operating and treasury management deposits with it. Noninterest-bearing deposits grew $53.9 million or 7.1% and represented nearly 19% of total deposits at quarter end. Money market and savings balances also grew 51%. This is exactly the growth our strategy is built around. Full commercial relationships where the clients we add on the loan side also brings operating and treasury management deposits. Our loan-to-deposit ratio was 97.2%, and we continue to have ample liquidity to fund growth since we have no broker deposits on our balance sheet at the end of the third quarter. Synergistic deposits from our retirement business and wealth businesses represented 22.1% of total deposits. HSA deposits have increased 9% since the beginning of the year and carrying an average cost of about 10 basis points remaining one of the most attractive and durable funding sources in our franchise. HSA, along with noninterest-bearing deposits now represent over 24% of total deposits. Turning to Page 18, net interest income was $46.7 million, down $1 million or 2.1% decrease from the second quarter, but up 8.3% from the third quarter of last year. Reported net interest margin was 3.84%, down 13 basis points from the second quarter and up 34 basis points from a year ago. The linked quarter decline was driven by the $1.6 million onetime interest recovery in the second quarter, which contributed approximately 13 basis points on the second quarter margin. We modestly lowered purchase accounting accretion in the third quarter. Excluding those items, our core margin improved by approximately 3 basis points to 3.55% as higher loan and investment yields have set a modest 2 basis point increase in deposit costs. Purchase accounting accretion contributed 28 basis points to margin in the third quarter versus 31 basis points in the second quarter. Total cost of funds was 2.05% and the cost of total deposits was 1.84%. In the fourth quarter, we expect approximately $1.8 million of base contractual purchase accounting accretion with approximately $33 million of accretion remaining from our purchase of Home Federal Bank. Turning to Page 19. Adjusted noninterest income was $32.8 million, 1.6% from the second quarter and up 11.3% from the third quarter of last year. Adjusted noninterest income continues to represent over 40% of adjusted revenue, roughly over doubled in -- Retirement and Benefit Services revenue increased 1.8% linked quarter driven by recurring annual income and 4.1% year-over-year growth. Wealth Advisory revenue increased 3.8% linked quarter on higher brokerage and transaction-based revenues and 22% year-over-year growth. Adjusted banking fees and other income had decreased 1.5% linked quarter primarily from lower mutual fund gains tied to deferred compensation plan assets and lower swap fees, partially offset by higher mortgage revenue and deposit service charges. On Page 20, banking services noninterest income increased $0.8 million or 10% from the second quarter, which includes the $1.6 million net gain on sale of premises as we continue to optimize our facilities footprint. Mortgage revenue increased 4.2% linked quarter to $3.3 million. Originations increased to $127 million from $113 million in the second quarter and gain on sale margins improved. Productivity remained the majority of volume at 90% of originations. As we head into the fourth quarter, we expect a typical seasonal slowdown in mortgage activity. Service charges on deposit accounts increased over 10% from the second quarter, reflecting growth in both commercial and consumer revenue. Swap fee income declined modestly from the second quarter. As a reminder, we do not include swap fees in our guidance given the variability. Turning to Page 21, Retirement and Benefit Services revenue was $17.7 million, up 1.8% from the second quarter and 7.1% from a year ago. Recurring annual income grew to $15.6 million, up 6% year-over-year and pretax income improved from the second quarter. Assets under administration and management were stable at $44.9 million. Retirement and Benefit Services continues to be one of Alerus' most significant differentiators. 63% of revenue is tied to plans, participants and activity rather than market levels, and that this is continue to generate low-cost synergistic deposits, including HSA balances that have grown 9% so far this year. On Page 22, Wealth Advisory Services revenue was $8 million, up 3.8% from the second quarter and 22% from a year ago. Pretax income increased to $1.8 million from $1.3 million in the second quarter reflecting operating leverage yield of business. Assets under administration and management were $5.2 billion, down a modest 0.6% from June 30. Wealth continues to deepen client relationships across our organization and contributes to recurring advisory base fee income alongside relationship deposits. Turning to Page 23. Adjusted noninterest expense was $53.7 million, up 2.0% from the second quarter. Compensation and benefits increased $0.6 million, primarily due to higher self-funded group insurance costs. Other expense increased $0.4 million, mainly from seasonal advertising campaigns. Occupancy, technology and professional fees were relatively stable. Year-to-date, adjusted nonexpense is $156.6 million, and our year-to-date efficiency ratio remains in the low 60% range. We continue to invest in talent and technology, while maintaining expense discipline. Turning to Page 24. Credit quality remained excellent. We recorded net recoveries of $1 million in the quarter or 10 basis points of average loans, primarily from a $1.1 million recovery of the commercial and industrial relationship we charge-off in the second quarter. That relationship has a remaining reserve of $0.9 million or about 61% of the total balance. Nonperforming assets declined $16.4 million or 30 basis points of total assets and nonperforming loans were 0.17% of total loans. Criticized loans declined 0.96% of total loans compared to 4.66% a year ago. We recorded a $2.2 million provision primarily driven by loan growth and updates the qualitative factors. And our reserve to total loans increased 3 basis points to 1.23%, the reserves covering non-performing loans more than 7x. On Page 25, capital and liquidity remains strong. Our common equity Tier 1 ratio was 10.5% above regulatory requirements. Tangible common equity to tangible assets was 8.77%, down 28 basis points from June 30, reflecting balance sheet growth, higher unrealized losses on available for sale securities from higher rates and share repurchases. During the quarter, we repurchased 250,000 shares for $8.2 million at an average price of $32.75. Our first priority for capital remains supporting attractive organic growth. With capital remaining strong, share repurchases continue to provide additional avenue for returning excess capital to shareholders. Total liquidity was approximately $2.9 billion or approximately $1.9 billion, excluding brokered CD capacity. Turning to Page 26, our full year 2026 guidance and we remain well positioned to achieve our full year objectives. We expect mid-single-digit loan growth for the full year. Through September, loans have grown 3.4% from year-end with strong momentum heading into the fourth quarter. Low single-digit deposit growth, year-to-date deposits have grown 2.7% led by commercial relationships. Full year reported net interest margin of 3.75% to 3.85%. Our year-to-date margin at 3.86%, supported by favorable loan and repricing and the overall position of the balance sheet. We do anticipate some contraction with purchase accounting diminishing and the recent rise in rate of our cost of funds. Adjusted revenue and adjusted noninterest income to grow in the mid-single digits, driven by wealth and retirement businesses. Swap fee income remains excluded from this guidance. Adjusted noninterest expense to increase low to mid-single digits as we continue strategic hiring and full year adjusted return on assets to be above 1.25%. As we finalize our 2027 plan, we continue to focus on generating positive operating leverage on a PPNR basis. In summary, the quarter demonstrated the strength of our relationship-based growth strategy. We generated nearly 4% linked quarter loan growth funded by strong commercial deposit growth. Underlying margin trends remain favorable. Our fee businesses delivered double-digit year-over-year growth and credit quality remains strong. At the same time, we continue to invest in organic growth and return capital to shareholders. We entered the fourth quarter with strong momentum and remain focused on creating sustainable long-term shareholder value. With that, let's open up for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will be coming from the line of Jeff Rulis of D.A. Davidson.

Al, while you just closed with the kind of the outlook slide, maybe I'll just kind of ask about that. The -- maybe both the fee income and expense, if I think about those run rates in the guide would imply maybe a step down in the fourth quarter for both. And even if I back out the gains maybe on the fee income side, you talked about maybe mortgage seasonality and then you don't include swaps. But maybe on both, if you could just kind of engage that a little bit more. It seems like they're both levels with pull back linked quarter?

Yes. So on the fee income side, there's going to be a little bit of a step back there on a reported basis because we won't have the net gains from the premises again. So we don't anticipate there's going to be any offset to that. So you'll definitely see that come out of the results. The rest of it will be kind of dependent on how the markets react for the remaining 2 months of the quarter. And on the expense side, we're kind of thinking of things being a little bit more stable-ish quarter-over-quarter. Now I do have to warn that we do have some seasonality in our expenses. So there was some pickup in the fourth quarter, but we have some offsets potentially as well.

Okay. And then maybe hopping on to the margin. I appreciate the -- I think you gave the remaining $33 million in purchase accounting. Let's see. I guess, could you just tell us what the expectation for the full year accretion '26 versus '27? If you got $1.8 million coming in Q4, just total of '26 versus '27, if we could.

Yes. Approximately, we're thinking about probably around $13 million for '26 in total and then down to about $9 million in total for '27.

Our next question will be coming from the line of Brendan Nosal of Hovde Group. .

It looks like loan growth was really weighted towards the end of the quarter, just kind of given where spot versus average balances ended. Maybe just talk about credit demand over the course of the quarter, how pipelines looked after such a strong finish to the third and kind of what that implies for expectations for loan growth in the fourth quarter.

Yes, Brendan, this is Jim. The pipelines going into the third quarter were very robust. And going into the fourth quarter, they're looking very strong as well. As Al said, mid- to single-digit loan growth is the guidance, and we still think we will hit that. Through the course of the third quarter, we had some really good loan growth as some examples in all markets. We had a regional hospital at roughly $28 million of loan growth. regional construction firm, $18 million in loans. A logistics and refrigeration company, that was another $33 million in loan growth, storage entity and all of these were full relationships, getting deposits as well. And I'll touch on some of the deposits while I'm talking about that. We had a lot of the mid-market C&I companies that we onboarded in first and second quarter really started moving more of their additional deposits into the bank in the third quarter. So that was a big chunk of the deposit growth in the third quarter. And you'll tend to see that ongoing when the mid-market companies that come on, on third quarter should bring on some additional cash in fourth quarter. So getting back to your question, the pipeline looks pretty good going into the fourth quarter. Now obviously, you have a couple of holidays, but we still feel we'll finish pretty strong.

Okay. That's helpful color. I guess kind of back to the period end versus average question. Any chance you have the spot margin at the end of September? And just -- I think it's really important here just given that so much of the balance sheet growth came kind of past the averages at quarter end. So the spot would be really helpful to kind of just see the exit run rate.

Yes. No problem, Brendan. Both on a reported basis and core basis, we're just looking down a couple of basis points for that in September. .

Got it. Is that for the full month or for the 9/30.

For the full month, 9/30 is as reported, as you can see, but the spot rate then at the end of September will be down. .

Our next question is coming from the line of Nathan Race of Piper Sandler.

Just going back to the margin discussion, Al, I was hoping that you could just update us in terms of kind of the short-term rate sensitivity that you have on both sides of the balance sheet in terms of kind of floating rate loans and kind of where your index deposits are and kind of what beta you're expecting on those index deposits going forward to the extent we get... .

Yes, no problem. In terms of loan yields right now, we're still continuing to put it on loan yields that are above our legacy portfolio yields right now. So that should still be accretive to overall earning asset yields. In terms of deposit costs, we're seeing them tick up a little bit, too, given the increase in rates, especially on our money market fund side. And then as for your third question there in terms of loan beta -- I'm sorry, deposit beta, we're thinking about 50%.

Okay. And I'm sorry, all the floating rate loans will, Prime and SOFR...

Yes, we're 50-50 variable versus fixed.

Okay. That's helpful. And just in terms of loans that are fixed rate on the commercial real estate side of things repricing over the next 12 months, can you just update us on kind of what that figure looks like.

Yes. Give me a second here. I'm going to have to dig that one up.

Maybe while you're looking for that, I can throw a question out for Forrest or Katie. Typically, in the fourth quarter, when I look at retirement and wealth revenue, there tends to be an uptick in 4Q relative to 3Q. I know market dynamics can impact that. But I'm just curious if you're kind of anticipating a similar increase, even assuming some stable equity markets and just kind of any other underlying growth avenues in those lines of businesses that are worth highlighting? .

Yes, Nathan, from the retirement side, I think it should be pretty steady, assuming a neutral market. Most of our fees are spread out pretty evenly throughout the year. We do have some that we do bill slightly higher in the fourth quarter, but I don't think it will be too material, certainly dwarfed a little bit by the market and the 37% that's market sensitive, and that's in the retirement division.