Stock Conversion Opportunity for Bank Investors

Investors Bancorp on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $18.9 million, or 18 cent a share, compared to $21.1 million, or 20 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, and $18.2 million, or 17 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2011. The first-quarter results included "the acquisition of Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank and the sale of most of Brooklyn Federal's commercial real estate portfolio on January 10, 2012," and also included roughly $6 million one-time acquisition related expenses.

CEO Kevin Cummings said that "excluding the one-time charge for the integration of Brooklyn Federal, net income was $22.7 million or $0.21 per share which reflects a return on tangible equity of 9.80%."

Cummings added that the company was continuing its plan "to become a full service commercial bank as commercial loans now account for 42% of our loan portfolio."

Investors Bancorp's total loans grew 3% during the first quarter, to $9.0 billion as of March 31, reflecting a "continued focus on generating multi-family and commercial real estate loans, which was partially offset by pay downs and payoffs of loans." Total assets were $11.3 billion as of March 31.

Investors Bancorp's chief operating officer Domenick Cama says that the company has been "steadfast in our approach -- when we need the capital we will take the second step," and that "taking the capital in the first step in October 2005 and actually doing something with it was important."

Cama says that when he and Cummings joined Investors Bancorp in 2003, the company had about $5.5 billion in total assets, with $4.5 billion invested in securities. "The bank has gone to $11. 2 billion in assets, with over $9 billion in loans, so it is our intention to become a full service commercial bank here in the New Jersey/New York region," he says."