First Financial earnings reach $2.31 per share as net interest income hits a record $63.5 million
Key Facts
First Financial Corporation reported diluted earnings of $2.31 per share in the third quarter of 2026, above analysts’ estimate of $2.03, according to Investing.com data and the company’s statement published via GlobeNewswire on October 27. Net income was $27.4 million, compared with $20.8 million in the same period of 2025. Diluted earnings per share also rose to $2.31 from $1.75 a year earlier. Revenue was $74.96 million, versus consensus estimates of $74.92 million. The results included a record level of net interest income, which Chief Executive Norman Lowry highlighted in his review of the quarter’s performance.
Lowry said the quarter delivered "another record level of net income and net interest income." Net interest income was $63.5 million, compared with $54.6 million in the third quarter of 2025, a year-over-year increase of 16.3%. Net interest margin rose to 4.51% from 4.25% in the year-earlier period. That puts growth in interest income and the wider margin at the center of the bank’s performance indicators for the quarter. In the third quarter of 2025, the company reported net interest income of $54.6 million and a margin of 4.25%, compared with $47.2 million and 3.78% in the third quarter of 2024.
On credit, the company recorded a $750,000 benefit from credit losses in the three months ended September 30, 2026, after posting a $2.0 million provision for credit losses in the same period of 2025. The company said the benefit resulted mainly from the full recovery during the quarter of a loan from a prior acquisition that had been individually assessed. It said the loan was fully recovered in the current quarter. In the results statement, Lowry said credit quality remained stable and described the net interest margin and profitability as strong. The company thus linked part of the quarter’s credit result to the recovery of a specific loan, alongside the credit quality indicators cited by the chief executive.
Total loans outstanding were $4.41 billion on September 30, 2026, compared with $3.97 billion on the same date in 2025, an annual increase of 11.20%. But loans declined quarter over quarter by $56.1 million, or 1.26%, from $4.47 billion on June 30. Deposits, meanwhile, were $4.87 billion at the end of September, versus $4.62 billion at the end of September 2025. Deposits increased 0.66% from their end-June level of $4.83 billion. Deposits therefore rose quarter over quarter while outstanding loans fell over the same period.
The company’s prior results show that net income in the third quarter of 2025 was $20.8 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.75, compared with $8.7 million and $0.74 in the third quarter of 2024. In the same period of 2025, net interest income was $54.6 million, versus $47.2 million a year earlier. Net interest margin also rose to 4.25% from 3.78%. For earlier quarters listed in Investing.com’s table, earnings per share in the second quarter of 2026 were $1.91, against an estimate of $1.81. In the first quarter of 2026, earnings were $1.67 against an estimate of $1.66, while the fourth quarter of 2025 recorded earnings of $1.81 against an estimate of $1.72.
After the results were released, THFF shares moved 2.64%, according to Investing.com, which described the move as reflecting the market’s response to the results. The stock closed at $76.46 on October 26, 2026, according to EL7 data. Attention is also turning to the First Illinois deal, which First Financial said it expects to complete in the first quarter of 2027. The deal includes Hickory Point Bank, which operates 8 branches in central Illinois communities, according to disclosures by the two companies. They estimated the combined entity would have about $6.9 billion in assets, $4.9 billion in loans and $5.5 billion in deposits.