CPF

Central Pacific is a Hawaii-focused bank holding company whose 2025 results show a clear earnings recovery: net income jumped to $77.5M ($2.86 diluted EPS) from $53.4M ($1.97) in 2024, a +45% rebound. Management attributes the bulk of the improvement to the absence of 2024's $9.9M investment-portfolio Repositioning Loss and $3.1M Strategic Expense; on an adjusted basis 2025 EPS of $2.91 vs. 2024 adjusted $2.34 still implies ~24% normalized growth. ROA of 1.06% and ROE of 13.62% (1.07%/13.81% adjusted) place CPF squarely in the respectable-regional-bank tier, and asset quality is excellent — nonperforming assets are only 0.19% of total assets ($14.4M on a $7.41B base).

Valuation is reasonable rather than cheap: at $37.54 the stock trades at 13.1x trailing EPS and roughly 1.66x book ($593M equity / 26.3M shares = ~$22.5 BV). The $29.4M dividend implies a ~$1.12/share payout and ~3% yield, well-covered by the $97.5M of operating cash flow. Balance-sheet posture has improved markedly — long-term debt was cut 51% to $76.5M and short-term borrowings are zero — while equity grew 10.1%, which should support both capital return and regulatory cushion.