On Wednesday, Piper Sandler adjusted its outlook on Axos Financial (NYSE: NYSE:AX), increasing the price target to $84.00, up from the previous $68.00, while retaining an Overweight rating on the shares.
The adjustment follows Axos Financial's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report for 2024, which presented earnings per share (EPS) of $1.80. This figure aligned with the general consensus but was slightly below Piper Sandler's expectation by one cent.
The report detailed that net interest income (NII) did not meet Piper Sandler's projections by $0.05 per share, as the net interest margin decreased by 22 basis points to 4.65%, compared to their estimate of 4.82%.
However, the size of the earning asset base exceeded expectations due to the company's maintenance of a high level of excess liquidity.
Additionally, the financial institution set aside a smaller provision for loan losses than Piper Sandler anticipated, reporting $6 million compared to the forecasted $10 million. This was attributed to lower non-performing assets (NPAs) and charge-offs.
On the expenditure side, costs were slightly higher than projected, impacting EPS by $0.04. Meanwhile, fee income matched expectations, and a lower-than-anticipated tax rate positively contributed $0.03 to the EPS relative to Piper Sandler's model.
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