Bank Of The Ozarks Q3 Profit Rises 21%

(RTTNews) - Bank of the Ozarks Inc. (OZRK) Tuesday said its third-quarter profit rose 21 percent from a year ago, as interest income surged and provisions for bad loans dropped.

The Little Rock, Arkansas-based bank's third-quarter profit rose to $32.1 million or $0.40 per share from $26.5 million or $0.36 per share last year. Ten analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.39 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Net interest income for the third quarter rose 47.4 percent to $74.6 million from $50.6 million last year. Net interest margin dropped to 5.48 percent from 5.55 percent last year.

Non-interest income for the third quarter decreased 12.9 percent to $19.2 million from $22.1 million last year. Provisions for loan and lease losses dropped to $3.7 million from $3.8 million last year.

CEO George Gleason said, "We are pleased to report our excellent results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2014. Our ability to organically grow our portfolio of high quality, good yielding loans and leases has contributed significantly to our growth and profitability in recent years."

Deposits were $5.14 billion at September 30, 2014, a 40.6 percent increase compared to $3.65 billion at September 30, 2013. Total assets were $6.58 billion at September 30, 2014, a 39.7 percent increase compared to $4.71 billion at September 30, 2013.

OZRK closed Tuesday's trading at $30.87, up $0.26 or 0.85%, on the Nasdaq.