LARK

Landmark is a small ($1.61B assets) Kansas/Missouri community bank whose FY2025 was a strong recovery year: net income of $18.8M (+44.4%) and diluted EPS of $3.07 (+42.8%) drove operating cash flow to $21.6M (+52.0%). The balance sheet is sound and improving — stockholders' equity grew 17.9% to $161M while liabilities rose just 0.6%, and retained earnings climbed to $63.7M. At $31.14 the stock trades at ~10.1x earnings and roughly 1.18x book value ($161M equity / 6.10M shares ≈ $26.40/share), which is undemanding for a profitable bank paying a growing dividend ($4.86M, ~26% payout). On value and quality alone this leans attractive.

The reason to hold rather than chase is that the earnings profile is choppy, not compounding. Net income went $18.0M (2021) → $9.88M (2022) → $12.2M (2023) → $13.0M (2024) → $18.8M (2025): FY2025 essentially reclaims the 2021 peak rather than setting a durable new high. ROE of 11.7% is respectable but unspectacular, and it is being earned on a fast-growing equity base — so per-share compounding is diluted by a 5.5% rise in shares outstanding. This is a bank whose spread income 'depends generally on net interest income,' per its own MD&A, leaving results hostage to the Fed's rate path and deposit competition it repeatedly flags.