Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 30, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Adriano Duarte – Investor Relations Officer
Tony Labozzetta – President and Chief Executive Officer
Tom Lyons – Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Greg Zingone – Piper Sandler
Billy Young – RBC Capital
Tim Switzer – KBW
Manuel Navas – D.A. Davidson

Operator

Thank you for standing by. I would like to welcome everyone to the Provident Financial Services, Inc. Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call.

I would now like to turn the call over to Adriano Duarte, the Investor Relations Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Adriano Duarte

Thank you, Dustin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter earnings call. Today’s presenters are President and CEO, Tony Labozzetta; and Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Tom Lyons.

Before beginning the review of our financial results, we ask that you please take note of our standard caution as to any forward-looking statements that may be made during the course of today’s call. Our full disclaimer is contained in yesterday evening’s earnings release, which has been posted to the Investor Relations page on our website, provident.bank.

Now it’s my pleasure to introduce Tony Labozzetta, who will offer his perspective on the third quarter. Tony?

Tony Labozzetta

Thank you, Adriano, and welcome, everyone, to the Provident Financial Services earnings call. Before we discuss our quarterly results, I am pleased to announce that as of September 3rd, the conversion of Lakeland Bank’s core system was completed, and we are now operating as a fully united organization. Our cultures are combining well and we have successfully retained virtually all legacy Lakeland customers. We are grateful to all the team members whose hard work and diligent preparation allowed us to have a smooth systems integration. We are already seeing the benefits of the merger through cost savings, expansion in our margin and more revenue enhancement opportunities, and we are excited to carry this momentum into 2025.

Moving on to our quarterly results. The third quarter was characterized by stronger-than-expected economic growth. The first interest rate cut in more than four years, and an optimistic outlook for the banking sector despite weak loan demand and higher deposit costs. The Provident team achieved solid core profitability, highlighted by core margin expansion, growth in the loan pipeline, significant contributions from our fee-based businesses and improved operating efficiency. During the quarter, we reported net earnings of $46.4 million, or $0.36 per share, on an annualized adjusted return on average assets of 0.95% and a return on average tangible equity of 14.53%.