Overview

* Columbia Financial ( CLBK ) Q2 net income rises to $12.3 mln, driven by higher net interest income

* Company's net interest margin improves in the qtr

* Columbia Financial ( CLBK ) reports solid loan growth, including $130.9 mln in equipment finance loans

Result Drivers

* NET INTEREST INCOME - Increase driven by higher interest income and lower interest expenses, attributed to strategic balance sheet repositioning

* LOAN GROWTH - Solid loan growth, including $130.9 mln in commercial equipment finance loans, contributed to financial performance

* NON-INTEREST INCOME - Rise due to increased fees and gains on securities transactions

Key Details

Metric Beat/Mis Actual Consensu

s s

Estimate

Q2 EPS $0.12

Q2 Net $12.30

Income mln

Q2 Net $53.70

Interest mln

Income

Q2 Basic $0.12

EPS

Q2 $16.50

Pretax mln

Profit

Analyst Coverage

* The current average analyst rating on the shares is "buy" and the breakdown of recommendations is 1 "strong buy" or "buy", 1 "hold" and no "sell" or "strong sell"

* The average consensus recommendation for the banks peer group is "buy"

* Wall Street's median 12-month price target for Columbia Financial Inc ( CLBK ) is $17.00, about 17.5% above its July 29 closing price of $14.02

* The stock recently traded at 28 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 33 three months ago

Press Release:

(This story was created using Reuters automation and AI based on LSEG and company data. It was checked and edited by a Reuters journalist prior to publication.)