Cohen & Company Posts $0.12 Per Share, Misses Third-Quarter Forecasts
Key Facts
Cohen & Company reported third-quarter 2026 net income attributable to shareholders of $6.7 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.12, according to Investing.com, citing the company. Earnings per share fell short of the $0.42 estimate. Sequentially, net income declined from $3.6 million in the second quarter, when diluted earnings per share were $0.94. Compared with the third quarter of 2025, net income rose from $4.6 million, while earnings per share fell from $2.58. The comparison shows a divergence between year-over-year net income growth and lower earnings per share during the period.
Management said all revenue from this activity came from the company's capital markets business, driven primarily by special purpose acquisition company transactions and their public offerings. But losses of $17.6 million on financial instruments the company received for investment banking and new-issue services reduced revenue. Management said those losses offset part of the revenue generated by those activities. On a comparative basis, revenue fell sharply from the two prior periods despite continued deal execution in this area.
Adjusted pretax income was $648,000 in the third quarter, compared with $10.1 million in the second quarter and $16.4 million in the same period last year. Those figures put the adjusted profitability measure below its levels in the two prior periods, alongside a decline in investment banking and new-issue revenue. By contrast, management said net income attributable to shareholders included a tax benefit from reducing the valuation allowance against deferred tax assets. Net income attributable to shareholders was also $6.7 million, above $4.6 million a year earlier. That figure comes alongside the steep decline in adjusted pretax income, illustrating the difference between the two measures the company reported for the quarter.
Management said its SPAC-related repo book stood at $4.5 billion at quarter-end and generated $6.6 million in net trading revenue during the period. The company described the book's size as a record. The figures show that the book contributed to trading revenue during the quarter, alongside financial-instrument losses that weighed on investment banking and new-issue revenue. On the earnings call, management said it had 45 SPACs it had taken public with deferred fees, and 13 of them had signed business combination agreements. The number of agreements offers a snapshot of deals at different stages of the company's pipeline at the time of the call.
Daniel Cohen returned as chief executive effective November 10, while Lester Brafman stepped down from the role on the same date, according to the earnings call. Cohen linked management's direction to a goal of growing the company's revenue to more than $500 million over three to five years. That remains a stated longer-term goal, not an outcome achieved in the third quarter. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable December 14 to shareholders of record on November 30. The dividend payment date is the next specific financial development the company announced for shareholders.