Here's Gator Capital Management's Investment Thesis for First Financial Bancorp (FFBC)

Gator Capital Management, an investment management company, released its third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund had a strong performance in the quarter, with an 11.30% return, outperforming both the broader market and the Financials sector benchmarks. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Gator Capital Management highlighted stocks such as First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC). First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) is a bank holding company that provides banking, financial, and other related activities. The one-month return of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) was -3.33%, and its shares lost 17.89% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 18, 2025, First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) stock closed at $23.54 per share, with a market capitalization of $2.319 billion.

Gator Capital Management stated the following regarding First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

"In September, we purchased a position in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC). First Financial is an $18 billion asset commercial bank headquartered in Cincinnati, OH. We think FFBC is a well-run commercial bank that is trading too cheap. We don’t think FFBC is extraordinary, but we believe it is a better than average bank and small-to-mid cap bank stocks are attractive.

Cheap valuation – FFBC shares are trading at the same stock price as 2016, but the bank is going to earn twice as much per share as it did then. FFBC’s P/E multiple has declined from 18x to 8x. Absolute valuation is cheap. 2. High return on asset bank – FFBC has a return on assets (“ROA”) of 1.40%. This is a solid number and reflects a high performing commercial bank. Banks that successfully generate such a high ROA tend to have strong fundamental characteristics: 1) they have high percentage of fee-related revenues, 2) they have higher than normal spreads from either cheap deposits or premium loan yields, or 3) they operate very efficiently. Banks with ROAs in this range have historically traded at higher valuations…” (Click here to read the full text)

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 28 hedge fund portfolios held First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) at the end of the second quarter, up from 24 in the previous quarter.  While we acknowledge the potential of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.