Overview

* First Financial Q2 net income rises to $18.6 mln, reflecting strong performance

* Net interest income hits record $52.7 mln, driven by loan growth

* Provision for credit losses falls to $2.0 mln, indicating improved asset quality

Outlook

* Company expects continued improvement in loan growth and net interest income

Result Drivers

* LOAN GROWTH - Average total loans increased by 21.25% year-over-year, driven by the acquisition of SimplyBank and organic growth in commercial construction, real estate, and consumer auto loans

* NET INTEREST INCOME - Record net interest income of $52.7 mln, up 34% from prior year, driven by seven consecutive qtrs of loan growth and expanded net interest margin of 4.15%

* CREDIT LOSS PROVISION - Provision for credit losses decreased to $2.0 mln from $3.0 mln, reflecting improved credit quality

Key Details

Metric Beat/Mis Actual Consensu

s s

Estimate

Q2 EPS $1.57

Q2 Net $18.60

Income mln

Q2 Net $52.70

Interest mln

Income

Q2 $2 mln

Credit

Loss

Provisio

n

Q2 Net 4.2%

Interest

Margin

Analyst Coverage

* The current average analyst rating on the shares is "buy" and the breakdown of recommendations is 2 "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 First Financial Corp ( THFF ) is $57.00, about 2.1% above its July 21 closing price of $55.81

* The stock recently traded at 9 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 9 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.)