Yahoo Finance Why BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) May Not Be As Risky Than You Think
The banking sector has been experiencing growth as a result of improving credit quality from post-GFC recovery. Economic growth impacts the stability of salaries and interest rate level which in turn affects borrowers’ demand for, and ability to repay, their loans. As a small-cap bank with a market capitalisation of US$175m, BCB Bancorp, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:BCBP) profit and value are directly affected by economic activity. Risk associate with repayment is measured by the level of bad debt which is an expense written off BCB Bancorp’s bottom line. Today we will analyse BCB Bancorp’s level of bad debt and liabilities in order to understand the risk involved with investing in the bank.
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How Good Is BCB Bancorp At Forecasting Its Risks?
BCB Bancorp’s ability to forecast and provision for its bad loans indicates it has a good understanding of the level of risk it is taking on. If the level of provisioning covers 100% or more of the actual bad debt expense the bank writes off, then it is relatively accurate and prudent in its bad debt provisioning. With a bad loan to bad debt ratio of 173.69%, the bank has cautiously over-provisioned by 73.69%, which illustrates a safe and prudent forecasting methodology, and its ability to anticipate the factors contributing to its bad loan levels.
What Is An Appropriate Level Of Risk?
BCB Bancorp is considered to be in a good financial shape if it does not engage in overly risky lending practices. So what constitutes as overly risky? Loans that cannot be recovered by the bank are known as bad loans and typically should make up less than 3% of its total loans. Loans are written off as expenses when they are not repaid, which comes directly out of BCB Bancorp’s profit. Since bad loans make up a relatively small 0.55% of total assets, the bank exhibits strict bad debt management and faces low risk of default.
Is There Enough Safe Form Of Borrowing?
BCB Bancorp operates by lending out its various forms of borrowings. Customers’ deposits tend to carry the smallest risk given the relatively stable interest rate and amount available. The general rule is the higher level of deposits a bank holds, the less risky it is considered to be. BCB Bancorp’s total deposit level of 87% of its total liabilities is very high and is well-above the sensible level of 50% for financial institutions. This may mean the bank is too cautious with its level of its safer form of borrowing and has plenty of headroom to take on risker forms of liability.
Next Steps:
The recent acquisition is expected to bring more opportunities for BCBP, which in turn should lead to stronger growth. I would stay up-to-date on how this decision will affect the future of the business in terms of earnings growth and financial health. The list below is my go-to checks for BCBP. I use Simply Wall St’s platform to keep informed about any changes in the company and market sentiment, and also use their data as the basis for my articles.
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for BCBP’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for BCBP’s outlook.
Valuation: What is BCBP worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether BCBP is currently mispriced by the market.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
