BFST

BFST trades at ~10.9x FY2025 diluted EPS of $2.79 and roughly 1.1x book ($897M equity / 32.7M shares ≈ $27.4 BVPS vs. $30.33 price) — an unremarkable but defensible multiple for a $8.2B-asset community bank. Earnings power is real: net income jumped 34.9% YoY to $87.9M and operating cash flow rose 50% to $92.1M, helped by the Oakwood deal closing Oct-2024 (3.97M shares issued, $863.6M assets absorbed). Retained earnings compounded 25.1% to $327M, and the equity base grew 12.2% — quality consistent with a bank that is building, not eroding, capital. Note the headline P/S of 92.7x and 'net margin' of 820% are artifacts: the $10.7M 'revenue' figure is ASC 606 fee revenue only and excludes net interest income, which is the bulk of a bank's top line — ignore those ratios.

The MD&A confirms the business as a Louisiana-headquartered commercial bank with $6.2B loans / $6.7B deposits, augmented by SBA-lending (Waterstone, Jan-2024), the Oakwood DFW expansion, and the Jan-1-2026 Progressive merger that just closed — a clear inorganic-growth playbook. Liquidity looks comfortable: cash up 28.9% to $411M and $967M of undrawn Fed discount window capacity. ROE of 9.8% is, however, mediocre for a bank of this profile (peers commonly post 11-13%), and that ceiling on returns plus a 10.7% share-count increase suggests the per-share growth story is more modest than the absolute net-income line implies.