Community Bank (NYSE:CBU) Exceeds Q4 CY2025 Expectations

Regional banking company Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU) reported Q4 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 9.9% year on year to $215.5 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.12 per share was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy Community Bank? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

Company Overview

Tracing its roots back to 1866 in upstate New York, Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU) is a financial holding company that provides banking, employee benefits, wealth management, and insurance services to retail, commercial, and municipal customers.

Sales Growth

Net interest income and and fee-based revenue are the two pillars supporting bank earnings. The former captures profit from the gap between lending rates and deposit costs, while the latter encompasses charges for banking services, credit products, wealth management, and trading activities. Unfortunately, Community Bank’s 6.5% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was tepid. This was below our standard for the banking sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Community Bank’s annualized revenue growth of 7.7% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, but we were still disappointed by the results.

This quarter, Community Bank reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.9%, and its $215.5 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.5%.

Net interest income made up 61.3% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning lending operations are Community Bank’s largest source of revenue.

Our experience and research show the market cares primarily about a bank’s net interest income growth as non-interest income is considered a lower-quality and non-recurring revenue source.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Coca-Cola, Monster Beverage—all began as under-the-radar growth stories riding a massive trend. We’ve identified the next one: a profitable AI semiconductor play Wall Street is still overlooking. Go here for access to our full report.

Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)

Banks profit by intermediating between depositors and borrowers, making them fundamentally balance sheet-driven enterprises. Market participants emphasize balance sheet quality and sustained book value growth when evaluating these institutions.

Because of this, tangible book value per share (TBVPS) emerges as the critical performance benchmark. By excluding intangible assets with uncertain liquidation values, this metric captures real, liquid net worth per share. Other (and more commonly known) per-share metrics like EPS can sometimes be murky due to M&A or accounting rules allowing for loan losses to be spread out.

Community Bank’s TBVPS declined at a 2.2% annual clip over the last five years. However, TBVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 18.4% annually over the last two years from $15.00 to $21.02 per share.

Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Community Bank’s TBVPS to grow by 17.7% to $24.74, top-notch growth rate.

Key Takeaways from Community Bank’s Q4 Results

It was encouraging to see Community Bank beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS was in line. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock traded down 2.1% to $60.50 immediately following the results.

The latest quarter from Community Bank’s wasn’t that good. One earnings report doesn’t define a company’s quality, though, so let’s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).