Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (CFR) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 26, 2023 2:00 PM ET

Corporate Participants

A.B. Mendez - Senior Vice President and Director-Investor Relations

Phil Green - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Jerry Salinas - Group Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America

Steven Alexopoulos - JPMorgan

Dave Rochester - Compass Point

Brady Gailey - KBW

Manan Gosalia - Morgan Stanley

Peter Winter - D.A. Davidson

Jon Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets

Operator

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. A.B. Mendez, Senior Vice President and Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

A.B. Mendez

Thanks, Donna. This morning's conference call will be led by Phil Green, Chairman and CEO and Jerry Salinas, Group Executive Vice President and CFO.

Before I turn the call over to Phil and Jerry, I need to take a moment to address the Safe Harbor provisions. Some of the remarks made today will constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. We intend such statements to be covered by the Safe Harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Please see the last page of text in this morning's earnings release for additional information about the risk factors associated with these forward-looking statements. If needed, a copy of the release is available on our website or by calling the Investor Relations department at 210-220-5234.

At this time, I'll turn the call over to Phil.

Phil Green

Thanks, A.B., and good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for joining us. Today, I'll review the fourth quarter results for Cullen/Frost and our Chief Financial Officer, Jerry Salinas, will provide additional comments before we open it up for your questions.

Well, in the fourth quarter, Cullen/Frost earned $189.5 million or $2.91 a share compared with earnings of $99.4 million or $1.54 a share reported in the same quarter of last year. That represented an increase of 90%. You don't get to say that very often.

Our return on average assets and average common equity in the fourth quarter were 1.44% and 27.16%, respectively, that compares with 0.81% and 9.26% for the same period last year. These are very strong results and along with our strategy of sustainable organic growth, they position us well heading into 2023.