Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call January 24, 2024 9:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Will Holford - Director of Strategic Corporate Development

Malcolm Holland - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Terry Earley - Chief Financial Officer

Clay Riebe - Chief Credit Officer

Conference Call Participants

Matt Olney - Stephens

Brady Gailey - KBW

Brett Rabatin - Hovde Group

Stephen Scouten - Piper Sandler

Ahmad Hasan - D.A. Davidson

Michael Rose - Raymond James

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Veritex Holdings Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Please note this event will be recorded.

I will now turn the conference over to Will Holford with Veritex.

Will Holford

Good morning. Thank you for joining Veritex's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call.

Before we begin, please be aware this call will include forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations of future results or events. Forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. Our forward-looking statements are as of the date of this call, and we do not assume any obligation to update or revise them. Statements made on this call should be consider with cautionary statements and other information contained in today's earnings release and our most recent annual report or Form 10-K, and subsequent filings with the SEC.

We will refer to investor slides during today's presentations, which can be found along with the press release in the Investor Relations section of our Web site at veritexbank.com.

Our speakers for the call today are Chairman and CEO, Malcolm Holland; our CFO, Terry Earley; and our Chief Credit Officer, Clay Riebe. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open the lines up for a Q&A session.

I will now turn the call over to Malcolm.

Malcolm Holland

Thank you, Will. Good morning, everyone. Today, we'll recap both our fourth quarter results as well as our 2023 annual results. As you will see, we continue to strengthen our balance sheet and add to tangible book value with a clear commitment to the things that will add long-term value to our shareholders. For the quarter, we reported operating earnings of $31.6 million or $0.58 per share, with a pre-tax pre-provision operating return on average assets of 1.54%. For the year 2023, we reported operating earnings of $142.1 million or $2.60 per share, with a pre-tax pre-provision operating return on average assets of 1.81%.