This Small Bank Could Signal Trouble for the Biggest Ones
Investors are punishing Bank OZK, which could be a canary in the coal mine when it comes to commercial real estate.
Miami is a hot market for the former Bank of the Ozarks.
Photographer: Scott McIntyre/BloombergIf Bank OZK is any indication, investors will be a lot less patient with banks than they were a decade ago the next time trouble hits. Worse, OZK’s recent results may indicate that there is indeed trouble ahead.
On Thursday evening, OZK, a midsize bank based in Little Rock, Arkansas, that has become one of the nation’s most aggressive commercial real estate lenders, announced that its third-quarter earnings had unexpectedly dropped nearly 23 percent. Analysts had been expecting earnings to rise 20 percent. Investors on Friday morning sent the shares, which were already well off their March high of $51, down 23 percent to less than $27.