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The First of Long Island Corporation’s (NASDAQ:FLIC) profitability and risk are largely affected by the underlying economic growth for the region it operates in US given it is a small-cap stock with a market capitalisation of US$528m. Given that banks operate by reinvesting deposits in the form of loans, negative economic growth may lower the level of saving deposits and demand for loans, directly affecting those banks’ levels of cash flows. After the Financial Crisis in 2008, a set of reforms called Basel III was created with the purpose of strengthening regulation, risk management and supervision in the banking sector. These reforms target bank level regulation and aims to improve the banking sector’s ability to absorb shocks arising from economic stress which could expose financial institutions to vulnerabilities. Unpredictable macro events such as political instability could weaken its financial position which is why it is important to understand how well the bank manages its risk levels. Sufficient liquidity and low levels of leverage could place the bank in a safe place in case of unexpected macro headwinds. Today we will be measuring First of Long Island’s financial risk position by looking at three leverage and liquidity metrics.
See our latest analysis for First of Long Island
Why Does FLIC’s Leverage Matter?
Banks with low leverage are exposed to lower risks around their ability to repay debt. A bank’s leverage can be thought of as the amount of assets it holds compared to its own shareholders’ funds. Financial institutions are required to have a certain level of buffer to meet capital adequacy levels. First of Long Island’s leverage level of 10.93x is significantly below the appropriate ceiling of 20x. This means the bank exhibits very strong leverage management and is well-positioned to repay its debtors in the case of any adverse events since it has an appropriately high level of equity relative to the debt it has taken on to remain in business. If the bank needs to increase its debt levels to firm up its capital cushion, there is plenty of headroom to do so without deteriorating its financial position.What Is FLIC’s Level of Liquidity?
Since loans are relatively illiquid, we should know how much of First of Long Island’s total assets are comprised of these loans.
Generally, they should make up less than 70% of total assets,
but its current level of 76% means the bank has lent out 6.22% above the sensible upper limit.
This means its revenue is reliant on these specific assets which means the bank is also
more likely to be exposed to default compared to its competitors with less loans.
Does FLIC Have Liquidity Mismatch?
A way banks make money is by lending out its deposits as loans. Loans are generally fixed term which means they cannot be readily realized, yet customer deposits on the liability side must be paid on-demand and in short notice. This mismatch between illiquid loans and liquid deposits poses a risk for the bank if unusual events occur and requires it to immediately repay its depositors. Since First of Long Island’s loan to deposit ratio of 105% is higher than the appropriate level of 90%, this level puts the bank in a risky position due to the negative liquidity disparity between loan and deposit levels. Essentially, for $1 of deposits with the bank, it lends out more than $1 which is unsustainable.Next Steps:
We’ve only touched on operational risks for FLIC in this article. But as a stock investment, there are other fundamentals you need to understand. There are three pertinent aspects you should look at:
- Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for FLIC’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for FLIC’s outlook.
- Valuation: What is FLIC 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 FLIC 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.