NECB

NECB is a small New York-metro thrift that has transformed itself into a construction lender: per the 10-K, construction loans are $1.3B, or 71.8% of total loans net of loans-in-process, up from just 39.8% in 2016, with another 18.0% ($334.8M) in multifamily/mixed-use/non-residential CRE. The bank runs that concentrated book with striking discipline — management reports non-performing assets to total assets of 0.00% at 12/31/2025 (vs 0.25% and 0.33% the prior two years) — and generates a 12.6% ROE. The balance sheet is sound and getting stronger: equity grew 10.5% to $352M, retained earnings rose 14.5% to $245M, long-term debt is a modest $70M, and the dividend was raised sharply (dividends paid +69.5% to $13.3M). At $27.61 the stock trades at 8.5x FY2025 diluted EPS of $3.25 and only ~1.08x book value (~$25.5/share on $352M equity over 13.8M shares) — an unaggressive price for a bank earning double-digit returns on capital.