Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for participating in today's earnings call. Before beginning the presentation, I want to take time to refer you to our statement about forward-looking statements and risk factors. This statement provides the cautionary language. The 2026 earnings release, as well as this earnings supplement slide deck, can be obtained by clicking on the Materials button in the lower right section of your screen. This will open up a panel on the right where you can download these items. You can also obtain a copy of these materials by visiting our investor relations website at stbancorp.com. With me today are Chris McComish, S&T's CEO, and Dave Antolik, S&T's President. I'd now like to turn the call over to Chris.
Great. Mark, thank you, and good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We certainly appreciate the analysts and investors being with us, and as always, we look forward to your questions. Before we get into the numbers, I would like to take a moment and talk a little bit about our company and reflect on who we are as an organization. While we're obviously here to deliver results for shareholders, and we're very proud of those results, banks like ours also exist to make broader impact. We focus our company on our values. The values drive our culture, and our culture drives our financial performance. Not only is our financial performance strong, but once again, we were honored with an award most recently by the American Bankers Association for supporting military families. This marks the second year in a row we received this recognition.
Our People Forward purpose is about making positive impact in the lives of those we serve, and this award is a powerful example of that purpose in action. We're proud to support military families and grateful to our employees for helping create stronger communities through their commitment and service. To everyone who has contributed to our efforts to support military families, thank you. Your work continues to make a meaningful difference and is helping us build on our shared future together. Now talking about the third quarter, our results reflect another strong quarter of disciplined financial performance. We delivered record earnings per share of $1.09, up nearly 20% from a year ago and almost 7% from last quarter, and record revenue of nearly $108 million for the quarter.
Return metrics were also strong, with ROA of 1.55%, ROE of just under 11%, and a return on average tangible shareholders equity of 14.81%. Further, PPNR increased 12 basis points to 2.01% for the quarter. Our results demonstrated the strength and consistency of our core earnings engine, producing higher profitability and stronger returns. Our operating performance was also strong. Net interest margin expanded seven basis points from the linked quarter to 4.06%, supported by higher loan yields and an improved funding mix. Importantly, we are seeing positive year-to-date operating leverage as well. Through the first nine months of the year, revenue growth has outpaced expense growth, and our efficiency ratio has improved to 54.65%, compared to 56.35% for the first nine months of 2025.
Asset quality trends remained favorable for the quarter, with net charge-offs of $2.1 million, or 10 basis points of total loans, and non-performing assets declined again this quarter by $3.7 million to just over $36 million, or 0.45% of total loans plus OREO. Turning now to Slide 4 and our balance sheet, loan balances were essentially flat during the quarter. Growth was impacted by our decisions to balance overall profitability and net interest margin against loan volume. We also experienced lower line utilization during the quarter. While period-end loan balances were down slightly, average loan balances for the quarter were actually up $61 million. Deposits declined modestly during the quarter, largely reflecting seasonal trends. Similar to loans, period-ending deposit balances were down, but average deposit balances were up over $56 million, including $24 million of average DDA growth compared to June 30, 2026.
Importantly, our funding profile remains a source of strength and has improved significantly this year. Demand deposits continue to represent a significant component of our deposit base at 28% of total deposits. As a reminder, we reduced brokered deposits by over $180 million year to date and currently have no brokered deposits on the balance sheet. Tangible book value increased $0.10 per share to $29.28, despite a significant increase in AOCI related to the impact of higher interest rates on our bond portfolio, which reduced tangible book value by $0.66 a share. In summary, our third quarter performance demonstrates record results. We produced record earnings per share and revenue, expanded margins, achieved higher returns, delivered positive operating leverage, and maintained favorable credit quality. These results reflect the disciplined execution of our strategy and most importantly, the dedication of our employees across the organization.
As we move forward into the final quarter of the year, we remain focused on driving profitable growth, maintaining strong credit discipline, enhancing our operating efficiency, and continuing to create long-term value for our shareholders. I am going to turn it over to Dave to provide more details on the balance sheet and customer activity, as well as asset quality, and I look forward to your questions. Dave?
Great. Thank you, Chris, and continuing on page 4 with the overview of the balance sheet. I will start by emphasizing something that Chris just reflected on, which was our deliberate decisions to balance volume and margin. This is being done in support of our continued strong earnings performance. At the same time, we recognize that the competitive environment for both loans and deposits continues to evolve in response to changes in both the economic landscape and the interest rate environment. We remain committed to investing in our deposit franchise as the primary driver of both profitability and growth here at S&T. As an example of that commitment, we completed a significant upgrade to our online banking platform for all customers in Q3, and we will roll out a similar significant upgrade for our mobile banking platform in Q4.
As depicted on the slide, loans were relatively flat during the quarter, reflecting reduced origination activity, particularly in the C&I banking space. Within commercial real estate, we saw balanced growth of $65 million, driven primarily by construction projects that were fully funded and moved from commercial construction into the commercial real estate category. Construction loan funding remains an important contributor to the total loan growth, and we forecast funding levels and overall CRE growth to remain relatively consistent in Q4 and into Q1. Balances in our C&I book declined by approximately $50 million in Q3. Impacting this result were a number of factors, including a slight reduction in revolving commercial utilization rates, the decision to exit several credits due to credit deterioration, and lower than anticipated originations. Based on current pipeline activity, we anticipate flat to low single-digit loan growth in Q4.
Turning to page 5, asset quality metrics remained solid during the quarter. Our allowance for credit losses was stable at 1.16% of gross loans, reflecting the overall quality of the loan portfolio and our focus on maintaining improvements that we've made over the past several years. Non-performing loans declined by $3.7 million, representing a very manageable 45 basis points of total loans plus OREO. Net charge-offs were modest at $2.1 million. Criticized and classified assets did increase during the quarter by approximately 7%. However, it's important to note that the increase was primarily driven by growth in criticized loans while classified loans remained stable. We view this distinction as important because it reflects proactive risk identification and monitoring rather than deterioration in our most severely rated credits.
Overall asset quality remains sound as we actively monitor the portfolio and adjust underwriting practices to reflect changes in the economic and interest rate environments. I'll turn the program over to Mark.
Hey, thanks, Dave. Third quarter net interest income increased by $2.7 million, or about 3%, due to an additional day in the quarter and growth in average loan balances. That, combined with improvement in the yield on earning assets, up nine basis points with both better loan and securities yields. Also, a stable cost of funds, up just one basis point in the quarter. The net interest income and net interest margin improvement came with very little impact from the September Fed increase, which we expect will add a couple of basis points to margin in the fourth quarter. As our floating loan rate book will reprice within the month and deposit pricing repricing will lag some. We expect net interest margin strength if rates continue to move higher.
Based on expectations for two to three additional rate increases over the year, the net interest margin should stay north of 4% into 2027. How much depends on the level of price competition on both loans and deposits, which we have seen increase over the past month or so. Non-interest income was essentially unchanged this quarter, down about $200,000. Declines were mostly due to one-time items last quarter. Our expectations for fees as we close out the year and move into 2027 is approximately $14 million to $15 million per quarter. Given the slower loan growth this quarter, we do not expect to cross the $10 billion threshold before year-end, which would delay the Durbin impact to mid-2028 at the earliest. Expenses were well controlled this quarter, decreasing by $1.1 million compared to second quarter.
Marketing decreased due to higher promotional efforts in the second quarter, and the favorable variance in other includes tax-related contributions, which were partially offset by an unfavorable variance in the other taxes line. We expect to manage our 2027 non-interest expense year-over-year increase to approximately 3%, which implies a quarterly run rate moving towards $59 million up to $60 million over the course of next year. The TCE ratio increased by 10 basis points this quarter as strong earnings and a slightly smaller balance sheet more than offset the higher AOCI. We paused share repurchases in the third quarter after the strong stock performance in late June and into July. We do have a $100 million authorization in place and are evaluating a resumption of activity here in the fourth quarter, with an eye towards at least maintaining current capital levels.
Our regulatory ratios continue to be very strong with significant excess capital. We are comfortable that even considering additional repurchases and further AOCI impact, we have more than sufficient current capital and generation capabilities to position us well for the environment and to enable us to take advantage of organic or inorganic growth opportunities that may arise.
Thanks very much. At this time, I would like to turn the call back over to the operator to provide instructions for asking questions.
The floor is now open for questions. If you have a question, please press star one on your phone. We ask that while asking your question, please pick up your phone and turn off speakerphone for enhanced audio quality. Please remember to unmute your device. Please hold while we poll for questions. Your first question comes from the line of Justin Crowley with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good afternoon, everyone.
Hey, Justin.
Just wanted to start out on loan growth. I know line utilization can certainly swing around. But as far as the lower origination activity that you called out, what would you point to as the driver of that? Are you seeing more caution on the part of borrowers, just given the level of rates and how does that get you thinking about growth? I know you gave some forward Q guide, but more medium term, especially if we get another couple of hikes out of the Fed.
Yeah, Justin, it's Dave. I think there are a couple of factors, particularly from our side as we manage to this balance between volume and rate. If I look at spreads on commercial loans, newly originated commercial loans in Q3, they're very similar to Q4. We plan on maintaining that focus on maintaining spread in order to defend the net interest margin. That will have an impact on growth. At the same time, we continue to hire bankers in the C&I space. They're building their pipeline. You saw C&I declines in Q3. We would expect a more active Q4 and Q1 and Q2 as we move into the new year with those new bankers on board. The other dynamic being a CRE-concentrated bank is as interest rates rise, cap rates do as well. So, appraisal outcomes are being impacted by rising cap rates.
That leaves us with a decision to reduce a spread in order to make a deal work from both a cash flow and loan-to-value perspective, or to require additional capital from our borrowers. We've chosen to require the additional capital from our borrowers to make them fit. And we've adjusted our underwriting as well to include increased rates or elevated rates in our stress testing scenarios. So, staying disciplined around our underwriting and our desire to maintain the progress that we made relative to asset quality, along with this volume rate trade-off is going to impact us, and that's why we're guiding to slightly lower loan growth in Q4 and into the new year.
Okay, got it. That's all super helpful. And I guess along those lines, do you have any detail that you can share on the pipeline, just what that activity looked like through the quarter, where it ended the period? And then, you made the comment about hiring C&I bankers, and you've done plenty of that already. So, just kind of curious what that mix looks like.
Yeah. The pipeline, in total, is very similar to where it was entering Q2. So end of Q2, beginning of Q2, and into Q3, very similar levels in here in early Q4. Again, we would expect the same momentum relative to CRE construction funding converting to permanent CRE balances, and then more emphasis on C&I. We just haven't seen significant pipeline growth in the C&I space. Just takes time for these new bankers to get up and running and to start producing results.
Okay, got it. Then maybe just one last one. You called out likely not crossing 10 by the end of this year. I know you guys have been pretty clear in the past that you would be comfortable crossing organically. I guess just maybe an update on the state of M&A, how you guys are thinking about that, and maybe just frame up for us just the opportunities out there, and the sorts of things that you're looking at.
Yeah, Justin, it's Chris. Our posture hasn't changed at all. Inorganic growth opportunities are things that represent a priority for us with the right structure, with the right partner at the right time. Our job is to continue to build relationships, which I think we've done an excellent job of. Then be prepared, which we are, for the opportunity as they present themselves. I think I've been pretty consistent every quarter is we kind of bifurcate this $10 billion asset threshold in M&A into we're going to grow the bank organically for the right reasons in the right way, which I think we've proven that we're doing. At the same time, we're going to continue to build relationships with partners that represent opportunities for inorganic growth, which I think we're doing very well. But those two things we don't think about in the same way.
The market has not changed dramatically when you think about the parts of the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic that we're focused on. There's been a couple of transactions that have been announced. Our job is to continue to build relationships with the right opportunities.
Okay. Not that you guys are rushing to do a deal, I think you've made that very clear, but what would you say are some of the things that are maybe a hang-up in getting something in? Because then again, I realize that's not the top priority, but just curious for a little color there.
What are some of the things that are a hang-up in what?
In terms of in your conversations with sellers, getting to the same place.
Oh.
And being able to actually announce a transaction.
Yeah. It's the typical things that would be a hang-up in any situation. There's price, there's timing, there's qualitative factors, there's cultural fit. All of those things play into the discussion. I can't say that there's any one thing. Obviously, the bank stock prices have run up and bank stock values have run up and people feel good about what they're doing and the way that they're running the company. There's lots of external factors that could play into it as well. You've got the election coming up in a couple of weeks. That could change things in Washington or give the perceptions that things are going to change in Washington. That could cause somebody to think differently tomorrow than they do about things. The interest rate impacts, right?
You've got AOCI impacts today that you didn't have six months ago, and they may get more pronounced in the coming quarters. That could be an impact for a seller. There's lots of factors that go into it. Succession planning issues for a leadership team. All of those things factor into the timing. The most important thing that we can do is run our company really well, prove to others that we know how to run a good bank and would be a great partner. By delivering results that gives the people on the other side of the table confidence.
Great. All very helpful. Thanks. I'll leave it there.
Thank you.
Thanks, Justin.
Your next question comes from the line of David Bishop with Hovde Group. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Hey, David.
Just curious if you have a line of sight into maybe expected cash flows off the fixed rate loan portfolio, maybe over the next year in securities and maybe what sort of spreads you might be looking at, sort of roll-off yields versus roll-on yields. Thanks.
Over the past quarter or so, we've seen them be fairly even. There's a little bit of a pickup on the commercial side still, probably in the 10- 15 basis points. The best turnover we're getting, although there's volumes not heavy, is on the mortgage book, where that's a good percent higher. Cash flow in the securities book over next year, we have a fairly laddered portfolio, so it runs maybe $150 million or so a year on the securities book. On the commercial loan side, we don't have any large concentrations that are coming off. We have some amount, I think it's in the $100 million range of kind of three and five-year resets that will happen in 2027. Pickup there is actually more significant, probably in the 200 or more basis point range. But on the fixed side, I don't think we have any walls coming.
At least we look at that from the credit perspective, there's nothing significant there.
Okay. Got it. I think you mentioned the recent C&I banker adds. Just curious if you were active this quarter in adding to the bench strength, and just curious if some of the recent hires are still sort of operating under non-compete or non-solicits they have to work through.
Yeah. The majority of the hires have some kind of a non-solicit. It just takes time to work through those. We've also built within our business banking space, we've made several hires there to upgrade talent and to focus on the relationship strategy that we've taken in order to help emphasize the growth and strength of our deposit franchise.
Yeah. Dave, the activity has been both in commercial banking as well as on the business banking side.
Yep.
Got it. Then maybe as you look at the.
Your other question about the non-competes and not solicit, that typically a banker would have something that comes with them for a period of time.
Got it. Then maybe looking at the, I don't know if you guys track this, but the deposit pipeline, just curious how that maybe looks in terms of maybe near term treasury management account wins, operating account wins. Thanks.
Yeah. We monitor that. Activity continues to be steady in that space. We are spending a lot of time focused in on capabilities in order to attract and retain deposit balances. So, everything relative to payments. We have got some leaders within the organization that are looking at additional capabilities. As I mentioned, the online banking update, the mobile rollout next quarter. Doing things that build a competitive advantage on top of just table stakes, doing things that we can get in front of our customers that can help them protect their cash, move money more quickly, more safely. Those are the things that we are focused on from a fundamental perspective in order to help strengthen the deposit franchise.
Got it. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Kelly Motta with KBW. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the question. Maybe sticking along the lines of deposits. Costs were really well controlled this quarter. Granted, growth was minimal, but interest-bearing deposit costs are only up three basis points with CD rates down. I am just wondering what the incremental cost of new funding is at, and given the rate move later in the quarter, how you are thinking through the incremental beta here on this next rate hiking cycle. Thank you.
Yes. So Kelly, we have seen an increase in the competitive environment here, both on the CD side and on the money market side. There is a lot of specials and back-pocket specials out there. So, we are defending our turf as much as we can there. So, we are seeing at the increment, kind of in the low fours as a place where we can put a stake in the ground. But we are seeing some leaking higher than that, so we will continue to evaluate that. But it is kind of in that low fours where we have to spend to save the relationships in a lot of cases.
Got it. I apologize if I missed it, but you were not active on the buyback this quarter, which was telegraphed at the last quarter's call. I am wondering, given that capital is building with the balance sheet flat and your profitability, it is a high-class problem to have, but any incremental thoughts here on returning to market? Thanks.
Yeah. We are looking at it again. Again, the AOCI this quarter helped to keep the capital levels down. But we are certainly sensitive to keeping those in line and not letting those get too far ahead of us. So, we are looking much more seriously at resuming the buybacks here in the fourth quarter. We will see how the price and the market environment plays out. But it is under more consideration than it was in Q3.
Great. Thank you. I will step back.
Your next question comes from the line of Matthew Breese with Stephens Inc. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good afternoon.
Hey, Matt.
A couple from me. The first, just I am really interested in the whole NIM dynamics versus volume conversation. Could you talk a little bit about what on the spread front you are seeing? How much compression? I would have to imagine it is more than 50 bps for things to really kind of turn off. Then you had also mentioned kind of higher cap rates. I am curious if you are seeing that already or if you are anticipating that, and what kind of move in cap rates do you expect?
Yeah, I'll take the cap rate question. We are already seeing it impacting appraisal values. More importantly, when we do our cash flow underwriting for commercial real estate deals, we stress test to the current rate environment. You have seen this increase in term rates. We apply a stressed rate at 200-300 basis points above that, and that has had an impact on cash flows. Again, we have decisions to make. We can say, "Well, we can live with a 120 cash flow coverage ratio," where we might have a policy that says it needs to be 125. We have an exception process if we need to do that. At this point, we have stayed disciplined. The easiest way to make it work is to lower the rate on the loan.
That just hurts NIM, that hurts profitability, and giving the pressures that we have from a NIM perspective and pressures that we have to make sure that we are able to maintain this strong profitability that we have experienced. That has kind of outweighed the desire for growth for the sake of growth. In the long run, we know we need to grow loans and deposits. That is key for us. It starts with that deposit franchise and making sure that we are able to fund things efficiently and effectively. Yeah, in the long term, we know we need to grow this place, and we need to grow loans and deposits.
Matt, I think if you look over the, it' s Chris, over the past 12-15 months, you have seen more spread compression over that time in the commercial lending space, particularly within commercial real estate. The C&I business is more kind of event-driven, customer-by-customer basis. That has been fairly consistent contraction of margins from an origination standpoint. In this rising rate environment on the deposit side, you are seeing really more competitive intensity on the deposit side. I would say where a year ago it was contraction on the loan side, here you are seeing it on both sides of the balance sheet more so than what we may have experienced in the past. As Dave said, our job is to balance those two things out.
First of all, we are going to do everything we can to satisfy our customer relationship, retain a customer relationship, and grow a customer relationship. We also do not want to do things to stretch too far, certainly from a profitability standpoint and as well as from a credit quality perspective. It is a balance that we have to achieve. We clearly feel really good about the income statement and the returns and everything. We need to continue to do work to balance the growth on the balance sheet.
Okay. Then maybe tying a couple of thoughts together. I think you answered Mr. Bishop's question with incremental cost of deposits is leaking into the 4% range. Is that to say that we are trying to push loan yields into the 8% range, but competition spread compression is keeping it in the 6%-7% range, and that just doesn't work? Is that the right way to think about it? Incremental margins are tighter. What is the incremental margin today?
Well, like I said, incremental margin on a commercial real estate deal, we are not really match maturing that. Maybe we are taking some interest rate risk, but on a nominal perspective, it's certainly way less than that. You are probably doing a commercial real estate loan at.
In and around 200 basis points.
Yeah.
Yeah.
For the quarter, it was 230.
Yeah. So, 230 over a five-year. So you're looking at mid to high sixes. If you think about it as funding off the front end of the curve, then you're looking at maybe a 250 incremental spread. There's a lot more that goes into that. For example, probably the biggest thing to impact us here as we're moving into the fourth quarter is just the Fed move at 25 basis points because there we have 36% of our loans that are going to reprice within a month. There's a lot of activity there. There we might only pass on 30%-40% of that from a beta perspective to only a portion of our customers.
The pickup there on the margin side from a dollar perspective is much more significant than the amount of volume which is just a fraction of that that's happened out the curve where we have this tighter incremental spread. So, from a margin management perspective, we'll make a lot more margin and net interest income dollars by that repricing on the front end curve because we've got $2 billion or $3 billion that reprice versus maybe $100 million or $150 million during a quarter on that fixed or ARM side that has that tighter incremental spread. Sorry if that's a lot.
Okay.
No, that's a really great answer. If this continues.
Matt, if you followed all of that, you get the question of the day award.
Yeah. If this dynamic continues for, let's call it the next 6 months into 2027, I never really considered it, but is there the possibility that you stay under 10 for 2027 as well?
We're not thinking that way. We know we've got to be able to run this company in the low to mid-single-digit asset growth. That's the markets that we're in. That's the opportunity. That's $500 million of loan growth over a year, and that gets us meaningfully over 10. So, certainly in the short term between now and the end of the year, we're so close. It wouldn't make sense for us to go over right now. So, regardless of it, we'll continue to manage the company appropriately where it stands today. But our job is to appropriately grow the company. It's an interesting time. Rising rate environment. The economy is what it is.
There's certainly a lot of positives there, but we're working really hard to stay balanced, and again, we feel really good about our performance, and we want to continue that and not meaningfully sacrifice it in the sake of volume.
Yep. Okay. I'll leave it there. Thanks for taking my questions. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Matt.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Nicholas Holowko with Raymond James. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions.
Hey, Nick.
Most of them have been answered so far, given all the color, so thanks for that. Maybe just a couple follow-ups. It does not sound like there is any kind of credit concerns on the horizon, but just as you observe the trends within criticized and classified, is there anything that you would call out as something worth paying attention to as you are thinking about the impacts of higher rates at this point? I guess as a side, how you are thinking about the direction of charge-offs from here, obviously at a very low level year to date, but any color there would be great. Thank you.
Yeah, sure, Nick. This is Dave. We do not see anything in the credit rating stack that would lead us to believe that credit results would deteriorate. We are closely monitoring the impact of inflation and interest rate movements on the portfolio. We actively stress test at underwriting through the annual review process and through our diligent credit review process. So, Nothing that would lead us to believe that there would be some kind of a surprise relative to credit moving forward. I did mention that there was a slight uptick in C&C assets in Q3. We believe we have resolution or rehabilitation plans that will drive those levels back down to a more moderate level or more close to what they were in Q2 through the results of our activities in Q4. So nothing that stands out, Nick.
Perfect. Thank you. Maybe as a follow-up, I think we have gone through most of the key line items, but any thoughts on where fee income kind of trends from here and into next year? Especially now that we should not be anticipating the Durbin impact until 2028.
Yeah. I mean, just from a run rate basis, we would expect to stay pretty similar to where we are at. We are kind of in that mid 14 to pushing on 15. So, over the course of the year, we would expect to see us kind of move forward through to that level. Again, to the extent we were thinking that the cross would happen in 2026 and the Durbin would roll off kind of halfway through 2027, we do not think that is going to happen. That supports a better, more consistent run rate, at least in 2027 for the full year. But other than that, we do not have any significant plus or minus on the fee side.
Perfect. Thanks for taking my question.
Thank you, Nick.
There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Chief Executive Officer, Chris McComish, for closing remarks.
Great. Well, listen, thanks everybody for being on the call with us and your interest in our company and the really good and thoughtful questions. Again, as I said, we're really proud of the performance we delivered in Q3. We're going to continue to run this company in a way that's, as I started out with, and aligned with the values that we have, that builds our culture, that delivers the results. We look forward to closing out the year strong and connecting with you over the coming weeks. Have a great rest of the day.
This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.