Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 22, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Dimitar Karaivanov – President and Chief Executive Officer
Joseph Sutaris – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Matthew Breese – Stephens Inc
Steve Moss – Raymond James
Sharanjit Cheema – D.A. Davidson
Christopher O’Connell – KBW
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Community Financial Systems Incorporated Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Dimitar Karaivanov, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Dimitar Karaivanov
Thank you, Danielle. Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining our third quarter earnings call. I would characterize the quarter as one with solid operating performance as evidenced by our PPNR of $1.29 per share, which was consistent with the prior quarter and grew 11.2% compared to last year’s third quarter. Bottom line earnings were impacted by a couple of items, which I wanted to touch on before we get into each business unit.
The first item is the increase in our provision expense. We’ve been observing the general industry trends towards normalization of credit for a few quarters now. And as you may recall, we added some reserves back in the first quarter of this year.
Since then, that industry trend has continued. If you look at the industry-wide loan classifications of special mention and substandard balances, they are now close to long-term averages.
We also have the Federal Reserve embarking on an easing cycle, which is typically a late cycle development and comes with expectations for increased unemployment, which is the main
