As far as Hap Stein is concerned, just about every key operating metric at Regency Centers Corp. is looking up.
During Friday’s annual meeting at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, Regency’s chairman and CEO started by telling shareholders the Jacksonville-based company’s portfolio of 318 shopping centers ended 2015 at a historically high occupancy level of 96 percent.
Stein then pointed to Regency’s four consecutive years of growing net operating income by 4 percent or more, its 7 percent growth in core funds from operations last year and its reduced debt costs.
“These excellent results translated into impressive and gratifying shareholder returns,” he said.
Regency’s 10 percent shareholder return last year beat the 1.4 percent return for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, and its 93.9 percent return over five years beat the S&P 500’s 80.8 percent return.
Stein expects the developer of mainly grocery-anchored shopping centers to continue growing.
“The company is very well positioned for the future,” he said.
Black Knight profits from new regulations
Black Knight Financial Services Inc. is already the dominant company in its field, providing the technology platform to service more than half of all U.S. first mortgage loans.
However, the Jacksonville-based company, which went public a year ago, expects to gain even more business because of new regulations in the mortgage industry.
“Black Knight is ready to help our clients meet these regulatory changes and we are very well positioned to attract new clients who are unable to meet these significant changes with their current existing technology,” CEO Tom Sanzone said last week during Black Knight’s quarterly conference call with analysts.
Black Knight’s adjusted earnings from continuing operations rose 16 percent in the first quarter to $40.9 million, or 27 cents a share. That was 2 cents a share higher than the average forecast of analysts, according to Thomson Financial.
Black Knight’s stock rose $1.36 to $33.39 Thursday after the earnings report.
“We have had a great quarter and I’m excited about our strong pipeline and our opportunities to add new enterprise clients. The recent sales successes and major implementations are further proof that Black Knight is the right company at the right time for the mortgage and real estate industry,” Sanzone said.
Fidelity’s earnings below forecasts
Fidelity National Financial Inc., which still has a majority stake in Black Knight, reported lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings.
Fidelity’s adjusted earnings of 33 cents a share were 4 cents lower than last year and below analysts’ forecasts, which ranged from 34 cents to 39 cents, according to Thomson.
However, Fidelity’s main business, title insurance, recorded a slightly higher profit than last year in the first quarter.
In the company’s conference call, Chairman Bill Foley called the quarter a “solid start” to the year, pointing to the 9.8 percent profit margin (pretax profits divided by revenue) in the title business.
“Given the normal slow first-quarter seasonal pattern, a nearly 10 percent pretax title margin is a strong historical first-quarter performance,” he said.
Fidelity’s stock fell 58 cents to $31.74 Thursday after the earnings report.
FNFV earnings rise
Fidelity’s investment unit, Fidelity National Financial Ventures (FNFV), reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of 8 cents a share, up from 3 cents last year.
FNFV was created as a tracking stock for the non-real estate-related investments made by Fidelity, which are wide-ranging.
As Foley outlined some of FNFV’s investments in its quarterly conference call, one analyst asked about a new venture for Foley unrelated to FNFV.
The previous week, Foley and former Blackstone Group dealmaker Chinh Chu filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a blank check company called CF Corp. that is looking for acquisition targets.
“We’ll go out on the search for an acquisition of significant size,” Foley said, but he added those efforts shouldn’t impact Fidelity’s investment efforts.
“That’s going to be important to me and we’re going to work hard on it, but it’s not going to distract Brent (Bickett, executive vice president) or the other guys at FNFV,” he said.
One of FNFV’s most recent investments has been the accumulation of shares in Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group Inc.
Fidelity has built up a 13 percent stake in the company, according to Del Frisco’s recent proxy statement.
Although Fidelity, through FNFV, has acquired controlling stakes in several restaurant chains in recent years, Foley said it doesn’t have any plans for Del Frisco beyond buying shares.
“We’ll just continue to hold it as an investment for the time being,” he said
Coach cutting costs
Coach Inc. last week announced it is cutting 300 jobs worldwide, but it likely won’t impact the handbag and fashion accessories company’s Jacksonville distribution center.
Coach spokeswoman Andrea Resnick said by email while the company is not announcing specifics about the cuts, the reductions are related to its global corporate staff.
CEO Victor Luis said in Coach’s quarterly conference call last week the 300 positions represent about 10 percent of its global corporate staff and 2 percent of its total workforce.
“These actions will allow us to emerge as a global brand-led company with fewer layers, larger spans of responsibility and a consistent global voice across merchandising and marketing,” he said.
The company employs about 250 people at its facility at the Jacksonville International Tradeport, which serves as its North American distribution center.
Coach reported adjusted earnings for the third quarter ended March 26 of 44 cents a share, 8 cents higher than last year. Net sales rose 11 percent to $1.03 billion.
Ameris beats forecasts
Ameris Bancorp reported operating earnings of 50 cents a share in the first quarter, 18 cents higher than last year, as the company completed its acquisition of Jacksonville Bancorp Inc. and its subsidiary, The Jacksonville Bank.
The company said its conversion of Jacksonville Bank’s systems into Ameris should be completed this quarter, which will allow it to begin realizing most of the “operating efficiencies” from the deal.
Ameris is officially headquartered in Moultrie, Ga., but has moved its executive offices to Jacksonville. The acquisition of Jacksonville Bank increased its branch network in the Jacksonville market.
Ameris’ earnings were 3 cents higher than the average analysts’ forecast, according to Thomson. Ameris’ stock rose $1.23 to $32.39 on April 22 after announcing earnings.
“Generally, the quality of the result was better, as positive variances in revenue reflected similar surprises in net interest income and noninterest income in the first quarter,” Piper Jaffray analyst Peyton Green said in a research note last week.
However, Green downgraded his rating from “overweight” to “neutral” on the stock, saying “we believe the recent rally in the shares leaves them fairly valued.”
EverBank earnings up
EverBank Financial Corp. last week reported adjusted earnings of 32 cents a share for the first quarter, a penny higher than last year.
“We continue to expect a low and flat interest rate environment with modest economic growth throughout the remainder of the year. As a result, we will continue to grow our balance sheet on a more selective basis by retaining few of the high quality loans and leases we originate and optimize risk adjusted returns during the year through continued asset sales,” CEO Rob Clements said in EverBank’s conference call.
Clements said the Jacksonville-based banking company continues to look at opportunities for cost cutting.
“While the environment could present further potential headwinds from a revenue perspective, we believe there are meaningful opportunities to enhance efficiency over the near and intermediate term and deliver an attractive earnings return profile for our shareholders,” he said.
Raymond James analyst Michael Rose said in a research note Thursday while first-quarter earnings were in line with expectations, he lowered his rating on the stock from “strong buy” to “outperform” as he slightly lowered his earnings forecast.
“While we continue to view the risk/reward dynamic positively given its attractive relative valuation and improvement in profitability from ongoing positive operating leverage, our reduced earnings forecasts and less than the required upside to maintain our prior rating render a less constructive stance to EverBank shares, in our view,” Rose said.
ACFC doubles earnings
Atlantic Coast Financial Corp. last week reported core earnings of 7 cents a share for the first quarter, more than doubling the 2015 first-quarter earnings of 3 cents.
This was the ninth consecutive profitable quarter for the Jacksonville-based banking company after a management overhaul in 2013.
“The strength of our first quarter results reflected a number of factors, including an increase in total loans over the course of the quarter, due to solid production in all of our lines of business,” CEO John Stephens said in a news release.
“Also contributing to our earnings momentum was a significant gain on the sale of investment securities and ongoing, across-the-board improvements in key credit quality metrics,” he said.
Patriot earnings dip
Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. last week reported earnings of 26 cents a share for the second quarter ended March 31, 2 cents lower than adjusted earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2015.
Because of lower fuel surcharges, revenue for the Jacksonville-based trucking company fell 2.3 percent to $29 million.
Patriot’s results were also impacted by the costs of hiring more drivers.
“While our results are not what we would like, they did show improvement over this year’s first quarter and we expect steady improvement going forward,” CEO Tom Baker said in Patriot’s quarterly conference call.
“My feeling is this fiscal year’s first two quarters were about positioning ourselves for a more profitable second half of the year,” he said.
Analyst downgrades Rayonier AM
Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. is scheduled to announce its first-quarter results today but before the report, RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Quinn last week downgraded the stock from “sector perform” to “underperform.”
In his research note, Quinn said the downgrade is based on a recent increase in the stock price.
“Rayonier AM’s shares have rallied 20.8 percent year-to-date (as of April 22), compared to a 3 percent increase for the S&P 500,” Quinn said.
“We see no fundamental changes in Rayonier AM’s underlying business or industry, and are maintaining our price target at $8, which is 32 percent below the current market price,” he said.