Eagle Bancorp, Bethesda, Md., originated and sold off more residential mortgages in the first quarter, which helped boost profits by almost 49%, to $7.6 million, from a year earlier.
The Maryland lender reported earnings per share of 36 cents per share, which beat analysts' estimates by a penny.
Noninterest income rose 105% to $6 million, largely because of the increased mortgage business in the Washington metropolitan area. Eagle CEO Ron Paul has touted the relative economic strength of Eagle's home turf as a key driver of loan growth.
The $2.8-billion-asset company's balance of one-to-four family mortgages increased 119% to $43 million from the year-ago period. Because of the growth in lending, Eagle's loan loss provision increased 87.6% to $3.9 million from a year earlier. Net charge-offs rose 31%, to $1.7 million. The biggest component of charge-offs was commercial and industrial loans.
Net interest income before the provision rose 32% to $28.4 million.
