Bank Of The Ozarks Profit Tops Estimate

(RTTNews) - Bank of the Ozarks Inc (OZRK) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net profit of $34.8 million or $0.43 per share compared with $24.4 million or $0.33 per share last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.41 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

The banks' net interest income for the quarter rose to $78.7 million from $55.3 million last year, while net interest margin fell to 5.53 percent from 5.63 percent.

Non-interest income for the quarter climbed to $27.9 million from $18.6 million a year ago, and included a pretax gain of $8 million from termination of the company's Federal Deposit Insurance Corp loss share agreements, the bank said.

The bank's provisions for loan and lease losses rose to $6.3 million from $2.9 million in the prior year.