J.P. Morgan Examines BXS 1Q Results

J.P. Morgan reports that BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS) has slipped back into the red, “with core loss driven by provision increase.”

“Following two consecutive quarters of profitability, BXS slipped back into the red in 1Q, reporting a loss of $0.01, or ($0.03) excluding a $2.5 million FV adjustment to the MSR,” J.P. Morgan writes.

“Using a normalized tax rate, run-rate EPS appear to be in the ($0.07) range, which is well below our $0.06 forecast and consensus of $0.09. The driver of the wide earnings miss was provision expense being reported $11.6 million above forecast, as well as expenses reported nearly $6 million higher than forecast, only partially offset by revenues coming in better than expected on a 10 bps expansion in the NIM.

“The quarter marked a slippage in credit at a time when most banks are reporting strong improvement, in tandem with PTPP income declining.”

BancorpSouth closed Monday at $15.32.