Astoria Financial Corp. Reports Operating Results (10-Q)

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May 07, 2010
Astoria Financial Corp. (AF, Financial) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2010-03-31.

Astoria Financial Corp. has a market cap of $1.52 billion; its shares were traded at around $15.56 with a P/E ratio of 43.2 and P/S ratio of 1.4. The dividend yield of Astoria Financial Corp. stocks is 3.4%.AF is in the portfolios of Irving Kahn of Kahn Brothers & Company Inc., Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, Jeremy Grantham of GMO LLC.

Highlight of Business Operations:

Loan reviews are completed quarterly for all loans individually classified by our Asset Classification Committee. Individual loan reviews are generally completed annually for multi-family, commercial real estate and construction mortgage loans in excess of $2.0 million, commercial business loans in excess of $200,000, one-to-four family mortgage loans in excess of $1.0 million and troubled debt restructurings. In addition, we generally review annually borrowing relationships whose combined outstanding balance exceeds $2.0 million.

As a result of our updated charge-off and loss analyses, we modified certain allowance coverage percentages during the 2010 first quarter to reflect our current estimates of the amount of probable losses inherent in our loan portfolio in determining our general valuation allowances. Based on our evaluation of the continued weakness in the housing and real estate markets and overall economy, in particular, the continued high unemployment rate and the levels and composition of our loan delinquencies, non-performing loans and net loan charge-offs, we determined that an allowance for loan losses of $210.7 million was required at March 31, 2010, compared to $194.0 million at December 31, 2009, resulting in a provision for loan losses of $45.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010. The balance of our allowance for loan losses represents management s best estimate of the probable inherent losses in our loan portfolio at the reporting dates.

The fair value of our investment portfolio is primarily impacted by changes in interest rates. In general, as interest rates rise, the fair value of fixed rate securities will decrease; as interest rates fall, the fair value of fixed rate securities will increase. We conduct a periodic review and evaluation of the securities portfolio to determine if a decline in the fair value of any security below its cost basis is other-than-temporary. Our evaluation of OTTI considers the duration and severity of the impairment, our assessments of the reason for the decline in value, the likelihood of a near-term recovery and our intent and ability to not sell the securities. We generally view changes in fair value caused by changes in interest rates as temporary, which is consistent with our experience. If such decline is deemed other-than-temporary, the security is written down to a new cost basis and the resulting loss is charged to earnings as a component of non-interest income, except for the amount of the total OTTI for a debt security that does not represent credit losses which is recognized in other comprehensive income/loss, net of applicable taxes. At March 31, 2010, we had 43 securities with an estimated fair value totaling $135.2 million which had an unrealized loss totaling $2.9 million. Of the securities in an unrealized loss position at March 31, 2010, $88.1 million, with an unrealized loss of $2.2 million, have been in a continuous unrealized loss position for more than twelve months. At March 31, 2010, the

In addition to cash provided by principal and interest payments on loans and securities, our other sources of funds include cash provided by operating activities, deposits and borrowings. Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $112.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2010 and $85.9 million during the three months ended March 31, 2009. Deposits decreased $127.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2010 and increased $149.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2009. The net decrease in deposits for the three months ended March 31, 2010 was primarily due to decreases in certificates of deposit and Liquid CDs, partially offset by increases in savings, NOW and demand deposit and money market accounts. During the 2010 first quarter, we continued to allow high cost certificates of deposit to run off as total assets declined. The increases in low cost savings, NOW and demand deposit and money market accounts during the 2010 first quarter appear to reflect customer preference for the liquidity these types of deposits provide over the rates currently offered for long term certificates of deposit. The net increase in deposits for the three months ended March 31, 2009 was due to increases in all deposit accounts, except Liquid CDs which decreased slightly, and reflects the diminished intense competition for core community deposits, from that which we experienced during 2008.

Our primary use of funds is for the origination and purchase of mortgage loans. Gross mortgage loans originated and purchased for portfolio during the three months ended March 31, 2010 totaled $838.9 million, of which $699.6 million were originations and $139.3 million were purchases, all of which were one-to-four family mortgage loans. One-to-four family mortgage loan origination and purchase volume for portfolio has been negatively affected by the historic low interest rates on thirty year fixed rate mortgages and the expanded conforming loan limits resulting in more borrowers opting for thirty year fixed rate mortgages which we do not retain for portfolio. This compares to gross mortgage loans originated and purchased for portfolio during the three months ended March 31, 2009 totaling $391.9 million, of which $342.9 million were originations and $49.0 million were purchases, substantially all of which were one-to-four family mortgage loans. Our 2009 first quarter one-to-four family mortgage loan origination and purchase volume was negatively affected by significant fallout from our mortgage loan application pipeline. We also originated loans held-for-sale totaling $60.8 million during the three months ended March 31, 2010 and $80.8 million during the three months ended March 31, 2009. During the three months ended March 31, 2010, we purchased securities to offset the cash flows from securities repayments. Purchases of securities totaled $308.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2010. There were no purchases of securities during the three months ended March 31, 2009.

We maintain liquidity levels to meet our operational needs in the normal course of our business. The levels of our liquid assets during any given period are dependent on our operating, investing and financing activities. Cash and due from banks and repurchase agreements, our most liquid assets, totaled $109.2 million at March 31, 2010, compared to $111.6 million at December 31, 2009. At March 31, 2010, we had $1.64 billion in borrowings with a weighted average rate of 3.25% maturing over the next twelve months. We have the flexibility to either repay or rollover these borrowings as they mature. In addition, we had $5.61 billion in certificates of deposit and Liquid CDs at March 31, 2010 with a weighted average rate of 1.83% maturing over the next twelve months. We have the ability to retain or replace a significant portion of such deposits based on our pricing and historical experience.

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