First Horizon Stock Slides as Regional Bank Lowers Outlook, Earnings Miss

Shares of First Horizon Corp. (FHN) slipped in intraday trading Wednesday after the regional bank reported second-quarter results lower than analysts expected as lower net interest income (NII) hit its profits.

The parent of First Horizon Bank reported NII of $629 million, down slightly from the $631 million it reported last year and below the $636 million analysts had projected, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. That helped lead to revenue coming in below estimates at $815 million, down from last year’s $1.03 billion.

Net income fell to $204 million from last year’s $329 million, below the $212 million analysts had expected. On a per-share basis, First Horizon reported profit of $0.34, narrowly missing estimates of $0.36.

First Horizon shares were nearly 6% lower at $16.44 as of 2:15 p.m. ET Wednesday. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index (KRX) moved higher.

Banks Have Mostly Reported Lower NII in Recent Results

Banks at the national and regional level have in recent earnings reports largely reported lower NII as deposit costs have risen to offset the benefit of higher interest rates on loan payments. Analysts have projected that interest rate cuts that markets predict will happen this year will negatively impact banks’ NII in the coming years.

First Horizon also lowered its full-year NII outlook, projecting it to be down 2% to flat compared with the fiscal 2023 mark of $2.56 billion, down from previous estimates of a 1% to 4% increase. Analysts project NII to be roughly unchanged from last year.

Citizens Financial Group (CFG), which also reported earnings Wednesday, similarly posted lower NII than the same time last year, falling to $1.41 billion from $1.59 billion. Other regional banks reporting earnings this week include M&T Bank (MTB) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB).