Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST), a prominent player in the banking sector, is the parent company of b1BANK. The company recently completed its strategic acquisition of Progressive Bancorp, Inc. Jude Melville, the CEO of Business First, described the period as a "busy and productive start of the year for b1BANK," as highlighted by GlobeNewswire.
On April 27, 2026, Business First Bancshares announced its first-quarter earnings. The company posted an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.73. This figure surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of $0.69, representing a positive surprise of 5.8%, as noted by Zacks. This performance is also an improvement from the $0.65 per share earned in the same period a year ago.
While earnings were strong, revenue for the quarter came in at $89.25 million. This amount fell slightly short of the expected $90.99 million. Despite missing the consensus estimate by 0.65%, the revenue figure marks a notable 12.7% increase from the $79.21 million reported in the prior year's quarter.
The company's reported net income was $22.2 million, or $0.68 per share. However, on a non-GAAP basis, which adjusts for one-time items, core net income was $24.0 million. This results in the higher core EPS of $0.73 per share, which is the figure that beat analyst expectations.
From a valuation standpoint, Business First Bancshares has a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.95. This metric suggests how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company's earnings. The company also shows an attractive earnings yield of 11.17%, which is a way to measure the earnings a company generates relative to its stock price.
