Regional banking company First Bancorp (NASDAQ: FBNC) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 30.5% year on year to $127.3 million. Its GAAP profit of $1.22 per share was 6.3% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
Is now the time to buy First Bancorp? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.
First Bancorp (FBNC) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Interest Income: $111.3 million vs analyst estimates of $109.9 million (15.1% year-on-year growth, 1.3% beat)
- Net Interest Margin: 3.7% vs analyst estimates of 3.7% (in line)
- Revenue: $127.3 million vs analyst estimates of $126 million (30.5% year-on-year growth, 1.1% beat)
- Efficiency Ratio: 49.1% vs analyst estimates of 48.7% (43.8 basis point miss)
- EPS (GAAP): $1.22 vs analyst estimates of $1.15 (6.3% beat)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $29.84 vs analyst estimates of $29.90 (17% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Market Capitalization: $2.67 billion
Company Overview
Founded during the Great Depression in 1934 and originally known as Montgomery Bancorp, First Bancorp (NASDAQ: FBNC) is a community-oriented commercial bank providing a wide range of financial services to businesses and individuals in North and South Carolina.
Sales Growth
Net interest income and fee-based revenue are the two pillars supporting bank earnings. The former captures profit from the gap between lending rates and deposit costs, while the latter encompasses charges for banking services, credit products, wealth management, and trading activities. Unfortunately, First Bancorp’s 9.8% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was mediocre. This wasn’t a great result compared to the rest of the banking sector, but there are still things to like about First Bancorp.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. First Bancorp’s annualized revenue growth of 14.6% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers because they were impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, First Bancorp reported wonderful year-on-year revenue growth of 30.5%, and its $127.3 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.1%.
Net interest income made up 88.1% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning First Bancorp barely relies on non-interest income to drive its overall growth.
Markets consistently prioritize net interest income growth over fee-based revenue, recognizing its superior quality and recurring nature compared to the more unpredictable non-interest income streams.
ONE MORE THING: 3 Hidden Platforms Growing 3X Faster than Amazon, Google, and PayPal. Amazon, Google, and Meta all followed the same playbook: Dominate an ignored market. Build an unbeatable moat. Scale until you’re unstoppable.
These three platforms are running that exact playbook right now. The early investors in Amazon made fortunes. The early investors in these could do the same. Get All 3 Stocks Here for FREE.
Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
The balance sheet drives banking profitability since earnings flow from the spread between borrowing and lending rates. As such, valuations for these companies concentrate on capital strength and sustainable equity accumulation potential.
This explains why tangible book value per share (TBVPS) stands as the premier banking metric. TBVPS strips away questionable intangible assets, revealing concrete per-share net worth that investors can trust. EPS can become murky due to acquisition impacts or accounting flexibility around loan provisions, and TBVPS resists financial engineering manipulation.
First Bancorp’s TBVPS grew at a mediocre 5% annual clip over the last five years. However, TBVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 16.9% annually over the last two years from $21.84 to $29.84 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for First Bancorp’s TBVPS to grow by 13.4% to $33.84, decent growth rate.
Key Takeaways from First Bancorp’s Q2 Results
It was good to see First Bancorp narrowly top analysts’ net interest income expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock remained flat at $62.60 immediately after reporting.
Should you buy the stock or not? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
