Stellar Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:STEL) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call January 26, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Courtney Theriot - Chief Accounting Officer

Robert Franklin - CEO

Paul Egge - CFO

Ramon Vitulli - President & CEO of the Bank

Conference Call Participants

David Feaster - Raymond James

Matt Olney - Stephens

John Rodis - Janney

Operator

Good morning. My name is Crista, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this times, I would like to welcome everyone to the Stellar Bancorp Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Courtney Theriot, Chief Accounting Officer. Courtney, you may begin your conference.

Courtney Theriot

Thank you, operator, and thank you to all who have joined our call today. Good morning. Our team would like to welcome you to our earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2023. This morning's earnings call will be led by our CEO, Bob Franklin; and CFO, Paul Egge. Also in attendance today are Steve Retzloff, Executive Chairman of the company; Ray Vitulli, President of the company and CEO of the Bank; and Joe West, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of the Bank.

Before we begin, I need to remind everyone that some of the remarks made today constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. We intend all such statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the act. Also note that if we give guidance about future results, that guidance is only a reflection of management beliefs at the time the statement is made and such beliefs are subject to change.

We disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. Please see the last page of the text in this morning's earnings release, which is available on our website at ir.stellar.bank for additional information about the risk factors associated with forward-looking statements. At the conclusion of our remarks, we will open the line and allow time for questions.

I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Bob Franklin.

Robert Franklin

Thank you, Courtney, and good morning, and welcome to the Stellar Bancorp fourth quarter earnings call. As we conclude 2023, I will begin by thanking the outstanding team at Stellar Bank. Their hard work and dedication allowed us to bring two banks together while dealing with the external pressures of current economic circumstances. Every day, we make strides in developing the Stellar way. Our team is working hard to ingrain our values across our organization, and our culture becomes more clear each day.