Alerus Financial (ALRS) Q2 2026 earnings call transcript

I would now like to turn the conference over to ALERUS FINANCIAL CORP, President and CEO, Katie O'Neill Lawrenson. Please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Joining me today on the call and in the Twin Cities is Forrest Wilson, Chief Retirement Services Officer, Al Villalon, Chief Financial Officer, Jim Collins, Chief Banking and Revenue Officer, and Karin Taylor, our Chief Operating Officer. We are pleased with our second quarter performance and believe the results further demonstrate the strength of the ALERUS franchise and the benefits of the diversified business model we have purposefully built over many years.

Our second quarter results reflect discipline execution across the organization with continued net interest margin expansion, solid performance from our fee-based businesses, and a significant improvement in credit quality. We generated earnings per diluted share of $0.81, delivered a return on assets of 1.6%, and a return on tangible common equity of nearly 20%, underscoring the earnings power of our company.

The most significant highlight was the favorable resolution of the largest non-performing loan and significantly improved credit quality metrics. Criticized loans have decreased over 60% from a year ago, with non-performing loans now less than 20 basis points. In addition, we maintained robust reserves at 1.2%, strong capital levels with TCE exceeding 9%, and continued to return capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends.

Importantly, this quarter highlights the advantages of a business model designed to generate balanced, sustainable growth, with non-interest income again representing more than 40% of total revenue. Our commercial banking, wealth advisory, and retirement and benefit services businesses continued to work together to create value for clients while producing recurring revenue to allow for consistent returns to shareholders. While ALERUS will provide additional detail on the quarterly financial results, we continue to measure our progress through the lens of long-term value creation and strategic execution. We are seeing the benefits of our shift toward full relationship commercial and private banking. We grew commercial relationships by more than 20%, expanded our core deposit franchise, increased fee-based revenues, and retirement and wealth assets reached record levels exceeding $50 billion.

We also continued to reduce commercial real estate concentrations and improve the overall quality of the balance sheet. Most importantly, we see evidence that the evolution of our strategy is working. Since the launch of our IPO, we are increasingly gaining awareness from stakeholders that we are much more than just a traditional bank and instead a highly diversified financial institution, With multiple engines for capital accretion and client growth. The performance demonstrates the durability of our earnings profile, the quality of our revenue streams, and the advantages of a strategy designed to create long-term value.

The driver behind our performance is the talented team we have assembled across ALERUS. We are fortunate to have hundreds of dedicated, long-tenured team members alongside exceptional new talent that continues to strengthen our organization. Together, they have played a critical role in the evolution of our company and the execution of our strategic plan. During the quarter, we continued to invest in leadership, growth markets, client-facing talent, and technology capabilities.

We announced the appointment of Dan Schrader as our permanent chief credit officer. We expanded our commercial banking leadership and production talent in Arizona. We added new wealth management advisors in the Twin Cities and welcomed another class of interns.

Lastly, we landed an experienced technology leader from FIS to help accelerate the overhaul of our retirement platform. These additions are not isolated hires. They reflect our continued ability to attract and retain the best-in-the-business professionals and support our belief that talent, leadership, and culture are among the most sustainable competitive advantages in our industry. As we look ahead, our priorities remain unchanged. We continue to position ALERUS as a leading commercial wealth bank and a national retirement plan provider. Our improved balance sheet profile, reduced CRE concentrations, strong capital position, and diversified earning streams provide flexibility to pursue organic growth while maintaining our disciplined approach to risk management. Investments in talent and technology will continue to drive operational efficiency, automation, and scalability throughout our enterprise.

Within our retirement division, we believe the technology transformation currently underway will further strengthen our position as a consolidator of choice for subscale operators across the industry. At the same time, our commercial and private banking teams continue to see attractive opportunities to deepen middle market relationships, grow treasury management, expose opportunities for wealth and retirement, and add HSA and other synergistic deposits. We remain confident in our efforts and believe ALERUS is uniquely positioned as very few organizations of our size operate with the same level of diversification, recurring revenue, and relationship-driven growth. We believe those advantages will continue to differentiate ALERUS' clients, future acquisition targets, and investors. Thank you again for your continued trust and support. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Al to review the quarter in more detail.

Thanks, Katie. Let's start on page nine of our investor deck, which is posted on the investor relations section of our website. Before I begin, I want to emphasize three themes that define the quarter. Durable earnings, significant credit improvement, and continued shareholder value creation. In the second quarter, we delivered another exceptionally strong quarter highlighted by strong profitability, improving balance sheet quality, stable core margin performance, and continued capital generation.

We generated adjusted diluted EPS of $0.80 and reported EPS of $0.81 while repurchasing $6.8 million of common stock during the quarter. Profitability remains strong with a return on average tangible common equity of 19.33% and a return on average assets of 1.6%. Adjusted pre-provision net revenue continues to improve. We also grew tangible book value per share of 3.2% from the prior quarter to 1873 and improved tangible common equity to tangible assets to 9.05%. These are high-quality results, and we believe the quarter demonstrates the strength of the franchise. While earnings remain strong, the most important financial takeaway was balance sheet quality. Reduced non-performing assets by 68.3%, increased tangible book value per share, and returned meaningful capital to shareholders through dividend increases and share repurchases.

We are proud of our over 40-year history of returning capital to shareholders, especially in the form of dividends. Let's turn to page 16 to talk about earning assets. Loans were stable during the quarter as new production offset planned balance sheet actions and reductions in non-performing loans. We continue to see healthy client activity and pipelines remain robust. The investment portfolio increased $5.9 million, or 0.8% from the prior quarter, as paydowns and maturities were replaced with new investments. We continue to benefit from reinvesting paydowns at higher front book yields. Our balance sheet is positioned neutrally for interest rates due to strategic loan and investment portfolio repositioning. In a 100 basis point increase or decrease scenario, we do not expect NII to be significantly impacted.

While future rates remain uncertain, we believe that the balance sheet is positioned appropriately across a range of rate scenarios. Turning to deposits on page 17 total deposits decreased million or 3 from March 31 2026 Decrease was primarily driven by seasonal outflows of public deposit or funds Despite the seasonal outflows our loan ratio was 96 Deposit costs remain stable and the mix of relationship deposits remain a key strength of the franchise Synergistic deposits now represent 22.6% of total deposits and continue to provide a meaningful funding advantage.

Those synergistic deposits grew 3.3% over the prior year, primarily from low-cost HSA deposits. Their continued contribution reinforces the strategic value of our integrated banking, wealth, retirement, and benefit services model. Our synergistic deposit franchise remains one of the strongest competitive differentiators in our business model It continues to provide a funding advantage that is difficult for many peers to replicate.

This matters in the current environment where deposit quality, stability, and cost discipline remain top priorities. Turning to page 18, net interest income increased 6.2% to $47.7 million and reported net interest margin increased 3.97%. Core margin remained stable from the prior quarter, which we view as a strong outcome given the current operating environment. Reported results benefit from purchase accounting creation and the resolution of a non-performing loan. But overall, we continue to feel good about the positioning of the balance sheet and our margin outlook.

Turning to page 19, adjusted non-interest income increased to $32.3 million, up 4.6% from the prior quarter and up 8.6% from the second quarter of last year. Adjusted banking fees and other income increased 16.3% in the quarter, permanently driven by higher swap fee income and mutual fund investment gains related to deferred compensation plan assets, partially offset by lower mortgage banking revenue.

Retirement and benefits service revenue was essentially stable, while wealth revenue increased 6.5% due to higher asset-based fees tied to equity markets and an increase in transaction-based fees. These businesses continue to demonstrate the strategic value of the ALERUS model by generating stable, recurring fee income and attracting low-cost relationship deposits and diversifying earnings. That diversification continues to lower dependence on spread income and remains a meaningful differentiator for a company.

On page 20, banking services' non-interest income increased $1.7 million, or 27.2% from the first quarter. Other income increased meaningfully, primarily due to higher swap fee income, which totaled $738,000 in the quarter. As we noted before, swap fee revenue can be variable based on client timing and activity. Mortgage revenue decreased to $0.3 million, or 9.6% from the first quarter, primarily driven by lower gain on sale margins from product mix changes and increased competition.

Turning to page 21, retirement and benefits services continues to be one of ALERUS' most significant differentiators. It generates recurring fee income, low-cost deposits, and long-term client relationships while supporting more stable performance across economic cycles. During the quarter, market appreciation supported higher retirement assets and continued growth in our HSA deposit base, which remains an attractive source of funding. On page 22, our wealth business continues to produce strong results while supporting broader client relationships across the organization.

Wealth contributes meaningful recurring fee income and relationship-based deposits while helping diversify earnings beyond traditional spread revenue. ALERUS' wealth business is differentiated with nearly 90% of the revenue coming from advisory services.

Turning to page 23, adjusted non-usiness expense increased $2.4 million, or 4.8%, compared to the first quarter. The increase was primarily driven by compensation and benefits, including annual merit increases, talent additions, and deferred compensation plan liabilities tied to market gains. Other expense increased due to higher other real estate-owned balances and related holding costs, as well as higher corporate insurance costs.

Business services, software, and technology expense declined due to lower core processing expenses and lower IT hardware expense. We continue to manage the expenses carefully while investing in growth areas that support long-term scalability.

Turn to page 24. Asset quality is one of the strongest parts of the quarter. Credit quality improved significantly during the quarter. Non-performing assets declined over 68%. On page 25, capital and liquidity remain strong. Tangible book value per share increased to 1873, and tangible common equity to tangible assets improved to 9.05%. CET1 increased to 10.81%, and total risk-based capital remained comfortably above regulatory requirements.

Total liquidity was approximately $2.6 billion at the end of June 30th, or approximately $1.5 billion excluding brokered CD capacity. During the quarter, we repurchased $6.8 million of common stock at an average price of $27.10 per share, reducing common shares upstanding by 250,000 shares at the end of the quarter. We also increased the quarterly dividend by 4.76% to $0.22 per share. Through the first six months of 2026, we returned $23.6 million to shareholders through dividends and repurchases.

We are pleased to simultaneously increase tangible book value, repurchase shares, increase the dividend, and strengthen regulatory capital ratios during the quarter. The increase in tangible book value per share combined with share repurchases and dividend growth demonstrates our continued focus on disciplined shareholder value creation. Our capital allocation priorities remain consistent, support organic growth, return capital opportunistically when it creates value, and maintain flexibility for strategic opportunities.

Turning to page 26, our 2026 guidance framework has improved and reflects continued discipline growth, stable core margin trends, and positive operating leverage. As we enter the second half of the year, remain encouraged by our performance in the first six months and believe ALERUS is well positioned to achieve our full-year objectives. We continue to expect mid-single-digit loan growth and low-single-digit deposit growth.

We now expect full-year reported net interest margin of approximately 3.7% to 3.8%. Our confidence in that outlook is supported by stable core margin trends, favorable loan and investment repricing, and the overall positioning of the balance sheet. We expect revenues to be up mid-single digits. Within that guide, we do anticipate lower mortgage originations with the market currently pricing in potential rate hikes. Non-interest expenses will increase low to mid-single digits as we anticipate more strategic hirings.

Lastly, we continue to expect full-year ROA to be above 1.25%. In summary, the second quarter reinforced what makes ALERUS unique. We generate strong returns, credit quality improved. We grew tangible book value, strengthened capital, and leveraged a diversified business model that continues to differentiate us from many of our peers. We entered the second half of 2026 with strong momentum, strong capital, and confidence in our ability to continue creating long-term value for shareholders.

So, Jeff, can you just help me understand the question a little bit further? So, our guidance has the recovery.

I mean, we're looking – I mean, our core margins have remained stable to end of June. We're in the mid-threes right now.

Yes, I have that. The expected accretion is going to decrease to roughly a couple hundred thousand dollars in each quarter. So, last quarter, that's anticipated paydowns. This quarter, we had over $3 million of total accretion, but on a contractual basis, we're expecting around $1.9 million for 3Q.

Yeah, I would say, this is Jim Collins, the pipeline right now is the largest and most robust since I've been here in four years. Like we discussed in the first quarter, the growth would really happen in the back half of this year. We worked really hard the last eight months with credit in the line, working through some credit issues, kind of cleaning up the portfolio, and really building that C&I pipeline.

Second quarter, we put on 30 full mid-market C&I relationships. One of those was a regional nonprofit that is bringing 40 accounts with an average collected balance of about $30 million. Once all those deposits flow in, which hasn't happened yet, about half of those have come in. You know, just this week we approved a loan package of $28 million for a new client, and that client will walk in with $30 million in deposits. So just a couple examples of what we are doing. So the strategy is working. We're staying the course. You know, we're working on full C&I relationships. We brought in a team that is focused on C&I relationships. They're a little harder. You know, it's a longer lead time for C&I.

But as you'll see, we are bringing down the CRE, growing CNI. That was the plan. That's the strategy. It is working. But I will tell you that that was the plan, and we will have more growth in the back half of this year.

Yes, we do believe that.

I think so. Thank you.

Sure, I'll take that. As we have talked about, the capital priorities remain the same. We are very focused on organic growth, client selection, reinvesting in ourselves in terms of talent, technology, and capabilities that really strengthen our franchise for the long term. Capital commitments or returning to shareholders has been very clearly demonstrated over many decades of this franchise.

But strategic acquisitions are also a very enterprise strength of ours, and we remain committed to pursuing those that fit our culture, enhance our capabilities, and meet our return thresholds. So, you know, when we look strategically for acquisitions, those are the three buckets. And, again, retirement, we're agnostic to location because it's a national business. We believe we are viewed as a consolidator of choice for those subscale operators. From a banking franchise standpoint, you know, we look for, again, middle of the country is kind of our geographic focus. From a size standpoint, we're more so looking at the client base and what it can bring to us in terms of enhancing our franchise.

Yeah, that's pretty simple, Brandon. Basically, we're forecasting lower originations from our mortgage business. Given there's a higher probability of a rate hike coming in September, we are seeing a slowdown in our pipelines right now. So that's kind of the offset that we're anticipating for the back half of the year. Hopefully, it will be better than that. But right now, we're just trying to be, you know, given the market prediction for more rate hikes in September, We're just wanting to give more cautious guidance on that.

Thanks, Al. No problem.

And 2.1 of it was base. The regular payoffs, the accelerated payoffs of 1.8, I would say, was just a broad mix.

Yeah, Damon, this is Karin. It did. As Jim mentioned, our teams in credit and banking have worked very hard to identify credits that either had deteriorated or just weren't poor to our business going forward, and we feel really good about the progress those teams have made. And that will be a standard culture of ours going forward for the portfolio.

We have a pretty good solid pipeline, but we'll have a good solid push at the end of the third quarter, and we shouldn't have a good push in the fourth quarter.

I don't want to step on Karin's toes. I'll let you take that one.

Okay, Karin. You know, the provision is going to be driven by loan growth at this point, and I think, you know, the level that we're at now is probably reasonably where we're going to be.

Thanks, Damon.

While Karin has the microphone, curious how you're thinking about the normalized charge-off trajectory for ALERUS going forward. Obviously, some meaningful credit cleanup occurred in the quarter. So, just curious how you are looking at what loss content could look like, just given all the enhancements across the franchise over the last several years, and particularly just given the cleanup here in 2Q. Sure. You know, certainly the back half of this year will see reduced levels. You know, I think back to our long history, probably 25 years plus our average charge off rate was in that 25 to 27 basis points range, and I think ultimately that's where we're going to end up going into the future.

Okay, great. And then just going back to the margin, Al, just hoping to unpack some of the moving pieces on the right side of the balance sheet that you expect in the back half of the year. It looked like borrowings were up on both an average and a period basis in the course. So just curious what you guys are seeing in terms of kind of the core deposit gathering pipeline to fund that growth, or do you anticipate kind of working on wholesale funding, which maybe kind of aligns with kind of your margin guide?

We do not anticipate too much use of wholesale funding to fund our loan growth here because we do believe that our deposits, you know, we should have deposit growth to offset it, but we have plenty of liquidity to offset to fund that growth if we need to tap into it.

Yeah, and getting to the deposit pipeline, as I said, the full pipeline is pretty robust. That does still include the deposit pipeline, so that still goes to the forecast of deposit growth in the low single digits. Our government nonprofit group is certainly trucking along really nicely on deposits, but again, those mid-market clients carry some decent deposits to fund part of that loan growth as well.

Yeah, great question, and that has been a huge focus of us and particularly one of our top priorities in 2026. We are making investments and we're making them in very targeted areas where we have a really long-term high conviction for future returns, particularly as we've discussed in modernizing the retirement platform. And so, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, the technology is great, but it's all about the talent leading the technology. And so, a big win for us to land one of the professionals from FIS who will be instrumental in that modernization of retirement platform, which we think is one of the areas that has the most opportunity in terms of AI, automation, scalability, and all of which we believe results in a Improving margins and improving scalability in every one of our divisions.

So those investments are ongoing, and we are running pretty fast and hard, and I'm really pleased with the success that I'm seeing the teams have early on.

I'm sorry, Al, if I could just sneak one more in on expenses. The other line was up about $900,000 quarter over quarter. Anything to call out there? Yeah, part of that other line on expenses is that we have a deferred comp plan where there's an increase in liabilities that gets booked as an expense, but there's also offsetting other revenues that also flows through, too.

Thanks, everyone. Thanks.

Well, we could see some. I think they're going to be at a much lower level. We do continue to have about a million dollar reserve on that.

So as I said earlier, the charge off level in the back half of the year is going to be quite a bit lower.

Sure. The residential property we expect to resolve by the end of the year, and some of the holding costs associated with that were just the minor improvements that needed to be made, so I don't expect that to be ongoing. The apartment building is actually in receivership, so there are costs related to the receiver with that building, and that one will more likely be resolved in the first half of 27.

Thanks, Ken.

I would now like to turn the call back over to Katie for closing remarks. Thank you. Thank you to our shareholders, our analysts, and our board of directors for your ongoing confidence and support. Most importantly, thank you to all of our team members across ALERUS. The results that we discussed today are a direct reflection of their commitment to our clients, our strategy, and to one another.

And while we are proud of our performance, we also recognize that success is never final. We remain committed to balancing strong financial performance today with thoughtful investments in talent, technology, and growth opportunities that will strengthen ALERUS for the future. That discipline has helped us to build a more diversified, resilient company, and we believe positions us well to continue creating long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you again for joining us today.