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DA Davidson maintains Buy rating on Business First Bancshares, $39 price target
DA Davidson kept a Buy rating on Business First Bancshares stock and a $39 price target, which implies 22.6% upside from the October 26 close of $31.82. Loans rose 7.3% from the prior quarter and net interest margin, which means the gap between interest earned and interest paid, widened 13 basis points.
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What happened
DA Davidson kept a Buy rating on Business First Bancshares stock and a $39 price target, which implies 22.6% upside from the October 26 close of $31.82. Loans rose 7.3% from the prior quarter and net interest margin, which means the gap between interest earned and interest paid, widened 13 basis points.
Confirmed
Global impact / market context
A higher price target signals the analyst expects shares to rise. Faster loan growth and a wider net interest margin can lift net interest income, which is the profit a bank earns on loans minus what it pays depositors, supporting revenue and profit.
Analyst inference
Core EPS of $0.79 beat both the analyst's estimate and the market consensus, helped by higher net interest income and improved credit metrics, which means borrowers are repaying more reliably. Stronger profitability and credit quality can support the bank's earnings outlook.
Analyst inference
What to watch
- Loans rose 7.3% quarter-over-quarter and net interest margin, which means the gap between interest earned and interest paid, widened 13 basis points, trends the analyst expects to continue. Confirmed
- Watch whether DA Davidson's $39 target and Buy rating stay unchanged if future results differ from what the note expects, though no change has been announced. Proposed
- Watch whether net interest income and credit metrics keep improving, since those drove the Core EPS beat and underpin the analyst's profit outlook. Analyst inference
Evidence
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