Name: FIRST UNITED CORP/MD/ Q4 2024 Earnings Call
Start: 2025-02-05T00:00:00.000Z

Executive Summary

Q4 2024 EPS was $0.95, up versus Q3 2024 ($0.89) and Q4 2023 ($0.26), and beat Wall Street consensus by $0.09; revenue modestly beat consensus with $20.62M vs $20.49M. Bold beat reflects disciplined deposit pricing, higher loan yields, and lower operating expenses.
Net interest margin improved to 3.48% (Q4) versus 3.46% (Q3) and 3.13% (Q4 2023), supported by loan growth and repricing; efficiency ratio improved year-to-date to 61.31%.
Balance sheet mix strengthened: loans +$74.1M YoY; deposits +$23.9M YoY with shift to interest-bearing demand/money markets and run-off of retail CDs; strategic FHLB borrowing at a 3.89% WAC to replace higher-cost funding.
Dividend of $0.22 was declared in Q4; management’s tone was confident, highlighting robust loan originations and growing wealth management contributions entering 2025.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

Robust production: commercial originations $72.2M and residential $23.3M in Q4; loan balances +$32.9M QoQ and +$74.1M YoY.
Margin/efficiency: NIM rose to 3.48% and efficiency ratio improved year-to-date to 61.31% amid stable operating income and lower operating expenses QoQ.
Wealth management strength: trust/brokerage income increased year-over-year, contributing +$1.1M for the year.
CEO quote (tone/confidence): “We are proud to announce another strong quarter... maintained our pricing and expense discipline ending the year with a strong margin... excited to enter 2025 with a focus on investing additional resources to grow our loan and deposit market share and increase our wealth presence.”

Provision elevated: Q4 provision $0.53M (up QoQ) tied to loan growth and prior nonaccrual C&I relationships; year-to-date net charge-offs rose to 0.16% vs 0.07% in 2023.
Data processing costs increased (core and software timing) and loan workout costs drove “other expenses” higher QoQ.
Nonaccruals and workout activity persisted: nonaccrual loans $4.9M at year-end, with collateral liquidations and charge-offs on two C&I relationships during 2024.

Metric	Q4 2023	Q3 2024	Q4 2024
Interest Income ($000s)	$22,191	$23,257	$23,725
Interest Expense ($000s)	$7,997	$8,029	$8,025
Net Interest Income ($000s)	$14,194	$15,228	$15,700
Provision for Credit Losses ($000s)	$419	$264	$529
Other Operating Income ($000s)	$4,793	$4,912	$4,924
Net Gains/(Losses) ($000s)	($4,184)	$141	$132
Other Operating Expense ($000s)	$12,309	$12,314	$12,081
Income Before Taxes ($000s)	$2,075	$7,703	$8,146
Net Income ($000s)	$1,758	$5,771	$6,186
Diluted EPS ($)	$0.26	$0.89	$0.95
Net Interest Margin (Non-GAAP, quarterly)	3.13%	3.46%	3.48%

Estimates vs Actual (Q4 2024)	Consensus	Actual	Surprise
EPS ($)	$0.86	$0.95	+$0.09
Revenue ($MM)	$20.49	$20.62	+0.65%

Loan Mix ($000s)	Q2 2024	Q3 2024	Q4 2024
Commercial Real Estate	$506,273	$502,828	$526,364
Acquisition & Development	$88,215	$92,909	$95,314
Commercial & Industrial	$260,168	$277,994	$287,534
Residential Mortgage	$511,354	$519,168	$518,815
Consumer	$56,965	$54,984	$52,766
Gross Loans	$1,422,975	$1,447,883	$1,480,793

KPIs	Q2 2024	Q3 2024	Q4 2024
NIM (Non-GAAP, quarterly)	3.49%	3.46%	3.48%
Efficiency Ratio (Non-GAAP, YTD)	63.48%	62.46%	61.31%
ACL / Loans	1.26%	1.24%	1.23%
Nonperforming Assets / Total Assets	0.69%	0.60%	0.59%
Total Deposits ($000s)	$1,537,071	$1,540,395	$1,574,829
Commercial Originations ($MM)	$36.9	$52.1	$72.2
Residential Originations ($MM)	$19.1	$19.9	$23.3

Metric	Period	Previous Guidance	Current Guidance	Change
Dividend per Share	Q4 2024	$0.22 (Q3 2024)	$0.22	Maintained
Formal Revenue/EPS Guidance	2025	None disclosed	None disclosed	N/A
Funding Mix Strategy	Late Q4 2024 / Jan 2025	BTFP + overnight Fed borrowings	Locked $90M FHLB at 3.89% and replaced overnight borrowings with brokered CDs Jan-25	De-risking/lower cost

Note: Company does not provide formal quantified forward revenue/EPS/OpEx guidance in these releases; strategic update shown above.

Transcript unavailable; themes below based on Q2–Q4 press releases.

Topic	Previous Mentions (Q2 & Q3 2024)	Current Period (Q4 2024)	Trend
Net Interest Margin & Pricing Discipline	NIM 3.49%; deposit expense stabilized; repricing of loans drove NII	NIM 3.48%; NII +$0.5M QoQ; cost of deposits -6 bps QoQ	Improving/stable margin
Asset Quality	Nonaccruals rose to $9.4M in Q2; net charge-offs spiked from one C&I relationship	Nonaccruals $4.9M; continued collateral liquidation; ACL/loans 1.23%	Improving nonaccruals; normalized charge-offs
Funding/Liquidity	BTFP usage in H1; strategic shift to ICS; added $90M FHLB post Fed 50 bp cut	Prepaid BTFP; locked FHLB 12–18 months at 3.89%; replaced overnight borrowings	Lower cost, more stable funding
Wealth Management	YTD +$0.8–$1.0M trust/brokerage growth; market-driven	+$1.1M YoY; continued relationship growth	Strengthening contributor
Technology/Data Processing Costs	Mixed/offset by declines in other expenses	Higher core processing/software timing QoQ	Rising run-rate pressure
Macro/Rate Environment	Fed cut 50 bps; repositioning borrowings	Deposit cost down QoQ; loan yields higher YoY	Benefitting from easing cycle

Strategy and tone: “Loan growth was robust... wealth department was a large contributor... maintained our pricing and expense discipline ending the year with a strong margin... excited to enter 2025 with a focus on investing additional resources to grow our loan and deposit market share and increase our wealth presence.” — Carissa Rodeheaver, Chairman, President & CEO.
Operational drivers: YoY EPS uplift largely due to absence of 2023 investment portfolio restructuring loss and lower occupancy/equipment expenses post branch closures.

The Q4 2024 earnings call transcript was not available in the document catalog or external sources we checked; Q&A highlights and any call-based guidance clarifications were therefore not accessible. We searched investor relations and third-party aggregators but found no transcript content.

EPS beat: $0.95 vs $0.86, +$0.09 surprise; revenue slight beat: $20.62M vs $20.49M, +0.65%. These imply continued upward pressure on Street estimates centered on NIM resilience and loan growth.
S&P Global consensus data was unavailable due to retrieval limits; we used Nasdaq/MarketBeat proxy references for consensus and actuals.

Margin resilience with improving NIM and modest deposit cost declines supports earnings durability into early 2025; watch further Fed policy impacts on deposit betas.
Credit costs appear normalizing as nonaccruals fell and ACL coverage remained steady; monitor ongoing collateral liquidations in the C&I portfolio.
Funding strategy reduced cost and duration risk (FHLB advances at 3.89%; brokered CD replacement), a positive for spread management.
Wealth management is becoming a more material earnings lever, adding diversification to fee income.
Capital returns maintained with a $0.22 dividend and active buybacks in 2024; book value per share increased to $27.71 at year-end.
Near-term trading implication: continued beats on EPS and margin stability are potential positive catalysts; any data processing/Opex inflation or unexpected credit events could temper sentiment.
Medium-term thesis: loan growth pipeline plus deposit mix improvements and fee diversification support ROE >12%; track execution on deposit market share growth and technology cost control.