Yahoo Finance WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript April 26, 2024
WSFS Financial Corporation isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Operator: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the WSFS Financial Corporation First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to your host for today, Mr. Art Bacci, Chief Wealth Officer, Interim Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.
Art Bacci: Thank you, Rob. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining our first quarter 2024 earnings call. Our earnings release and earnings release supplement, which we will refer to on today's call, can be found in the Investor Relations section of our company website. With me on this call today are Rodger Levenson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Clark, Chief Commercial Banking Officer; and Shari Kruzinski, Chief Consumer Banking Officer. Before I turn the call over to Rodger for his remarks on the quarter, I would like to read our safe harbor statement. Our discussion today will include information about our management's view of our future expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements.
Actual results may differ materially from historical results or those indicated by the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10-K and our most recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents we may periodically file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All comments made during today's call are subject to the safe harbor statement. I will now turn the call over to Rodger.
Rodger Levenson: Thank you, Art, and everyone else for joining us on the call today. WSFS had a good start to 2024, continuing to demonstrate the strength of our franchise and diverse business model. Our first quarter results included a core earnings per share of $1.11, core return on tangible common equity of 19.2% and a core return on assets of 1.31%. Our results continue to reflect the benefits of the investments we are making in our company and our unique competitive market position. Highlights for the quarter included gross loan growth of 2% linked quarter or 7% annualized. This growth was spread across our commercial mortgage, consumer, and C&I books. Quarter-end customer deposits were up 3% linked quarter after excluding expected trust activity and a short-term commercial deposit withdrawal.
Average deposit balances increased 4.9% annualized linked quarter. Deposits remain well-diversified across our commercial, consumer, wealth, and trust businesses, with 30% of average deposits in noninterest-bearing demand accounts. The core net interest margin was 3.84% for the quarter, with interest-bearing deposit beta of 47%. While our average cost of funds increased 17 basis points during the quarter, the increase mostly occurred early in the quarter and the rate of increase in cost of funds declined meaningfully in March. Excluding the income from our equity position in Spring EQ of $3.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, core fee revenue increased 2.7% linked quarter. As a reminder, Spring EQ was acquired effective year-end 2023 and we will therefore no longer recognize income from this investment.
Our core fee revenue ratio was 30.3% in the first quarter. The core efficiency ratio stood at 58.6% for the quarter. Noninterest expenses in both the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of this year included a number of non-recurring adjustments. Normalizing for these items, expenses increased $7.2 million or 5% linked quarter with Cash Connect external funding costs representing $5.2 million of the increase. Cash Connect added 4,336 serviced non-bank ATMs during the quarter due to the previously discussed exit of a large industry participant. We anticipate opportunities for additional unit growth during the second quarter. Expenses were higher in the quarter due to one-time onboarding costs and increased use of external funding. Asset quality remains stable.
Problem loans and delinquencies were flat at 4.41% and 81 basis points of gross loans, respectively. NPAs declined to 33 basis points of total assets, primarily due to the resolution of two non-performing C&I credits. Net charge-offs decreased to 27 basis points of average gross loans, including a net recovery, excluding the upstart and leasing portfolios. The ACL coverage was 1.48% as we continued to build reserves for potential future credit losses. In summary, we remain well-positioned to deliver top-quintile financial performance in 2024. We are tracking well to the full year outlook communicated in January. Thank you. I will now have Art facilitate Q&A.
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