Huntington Bancshares 二季报电话会维持 2027 EPS/ROTCE 目标但下调 2026 NII 口径

Earnings Call Insights: Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) Q2 2026
Management View
- Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) said the quarter was “marked by strong organic growth, expanding revenue and profitability and the successful completion of the Cadence systems conversion,” adding that “visibility on economic trends has improved since last quarter” and that the company views “Texas and the South as a springboard to significant future growth.”
- Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) reiterated the longer-term profitability goal, saying results “reinforce our confidence in achieving our '27 ROTCE target of 18% to 19%.”
- Brantley Standridge (Senior EVP and President of Consumer & Regional Banking) said Huntington “successfully completed the Cadence systems conversion,” noting it was completed “just 235 days after announcement,” and added, “we actually grew deposits during the conversion weekend and the weeks that followed.”
- Brantley Standridge (Senior EVP and President of Consumer & Regional Banking) said cost and revenue synergy execution remains on schedule: “We remain on track to attain the $365 million in cost synergies in the fourth quarter,” and cited revenue traction including “expanding client commitments by nearly $1 billion” and “more than 10 transactions… generating approximately $12 million of fees.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) highlighted quarter momentum and integration progress: “Adjusted PPNR increased 12% quarter-over-quarter,” “Net interest income increased 8.5%,” “Value-added fee revenues increased 15%,” and “we generated 210 basis points of positive operating leverage on a trailing 12-month basis.”
Outlook
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) maintained focus on the company’s longer-term targets, stating, “our expectations for growth into 2027 are unchanged,” including “the earnings per share of $1.90 to $1.93” and ROTCE “between 18% and 19%.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) updated 2026 net interest income framing: “we expect to be at the bottom end of the NII range or perhaps modestly below it,” while also stating, “we expect to be at the higher end or above on fees,” and that the company still expects to track “toward that approximately 37% overall revenue growth this year.”
- Compared with Q1, the guidance language on NII shifted from Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) saying in Q1, “we now expect to be at the low end of our guided range,” to Q2’s “bottom end… or perhaps modestly below it,” with Q2 attributing the change mainly to deposit-cost pressure and rate expectations.
Financial Results
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) reported net interest income of “$2.1 billion” and said noninterest expense was “$1.8 billion,” while adding, “excluding one-time items, noninterest expense was $1.7 billion.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) said average loans increased “$15 billion or 8.6% sequentially,” and average deposits increased “$18.8 billion or 9.2% sequentially,” while also stating that, normalizing for Cadence day count in Q1, deposits “grew organically $4 billion or 1.8% sequentially.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) described margin dynamics and the path forward: “We believe Q2 is the trough for our NIM and expect expansion from here,” and later guided, “we expect the NIM just to rise modestly into the low 3.20s in the third quarter… and then into the mid- to high 3.20s in the fourth quarter.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) reiterated expense and synergy targets: “We remain on track to achieve the combined $435 million of run rate expense synergies from Veritex and Cadence cumulatively by the fourth quarter,” and said the company is “tracking toward our targeted Q4 core efficiency ratio in the mid- to low 54% range.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) detailed capital return timing: “Year-to-date, we have completed $310 million of our $550 million planned share repurchase program for 2026,” and added, “We expect to repurchase an additional $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in 2027.”
Q&A
- L. Erika Penala, UBS Investment Bank: raised concern about the stock reaction and the NII language; Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) responded, “our overall revenue outlook continues to be very robust,” and said lower NII positioning was paired with “continued outperformance on fees.” Brantley Standridge (Senior EVP and President of Consumer & Regional Banking) added, “it is competitive, but we still see it as being rational,” and Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) said, “We chose to front-end load a bit.”
- L. Erika Penala, UBS Investment Bank: asked about the “jumping off point” to the 2027 EPS target; Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) said, “I’m not going to talk specifically about consensus,” and emphasized Q4 strength tied to “significant run rate cost synergies from Cadence.”
- Manan Gosalia, Morgan Stanley: asked what changed to push NII toward the low end/below; Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) said, “The biggest single change… around NIM is deposit cost,” and also pointed to rate expectations moving “to an expectation of 1 to maybe 2 hikes.”
- Jon Arfstrom, RBC Capital Markets: asked about fee-income confidence; Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) said, “I’m expecting very sustainable double-digit growth now for quite some period of time,” citing investments across payments, wealth, and capital markets.
- John Pancari, Evercore ISI: asked about avoiding another NII downgrade; Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) said Huntington is “proven to be very dynamic operators,” while Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) emphasized “there’s a balance to this equation, translating to earnings and high levels of return.”
- Kenneth Usdin, Bernstein Autonomous LLP: pressed for balance sheet and deposit-cost detail; Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) guided, “My general expectation is in the sort of 2% to 3% per quarter range,” and reiterated the NIM path to “low 3.20s” in Q3 and “mid- to high 3.20s” in Q4.
Sentiment Analysis
- Analysts’ tone was slightly negative, led by L. Erika Penala, UBS Investment Bank, who said, “the stock opened down 5,” and framed the NII language as a key issue.
- Management’s tone was slightly positive and defensive on NII framing, with Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) repeatedly emphasizing “overall revenue growth,” while Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) stressed the “very successful conversion.”
- Versus Q1, management appeared more focused on explaining NII sensitivity to deposit pricing and the rate backdrop; Q1 framed uncertainty more broadly with Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) saying the bank was “operating in a dynamic global environment,” while Q2 emphasized improved visibility and being “now at an inflection point.”
Quarter-over-Quarter Comparison
- Q2 shifted from pre-conversion readiness to post-conversion execution, with Brantley Standridge (Senior EVP and President of Consumer & Regional Banking) saying, “our focus shifts from conversion to growth,” compared with Q1’s emphasis that the bank was “on track for the Cadence conversion in June.”
- Q2 guidance language on NII became more cautious than Q1, moving from Q1’s “low end of our guided range” to Q2’s “bottom end… or perhaps modestly below it,” while still pairing this with stronger fee confidence.
- Analysts in Q2 concentrated more heavily on NII precision and the path to the 2027 EPS target, with repeated questions seeking deposit-cost, earning-asset, and Q4 earnings-power clarity.
Risks and Concerns
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) identified deposit pricing as the key headwind, saying, “the biggest single change… is deposit cost,” and described a “competitive” environment.
- Management cited return discipline as a constraint on some volumes, with Brantley Standridge (Senior EVP and President of Consumer & Regional Banking) saying spread compression in auto led the bank to “pulled down auto volumes… because they didn’t meet our return threshold,” and Stephen Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO) adding, “we don’t like the returns.”
- Zachary Wasserman (CFO & Senior EVP) pointed to mitigation via optimization levers, including “opportunities for optimization within the Cadence deposit portfolio” and expectations for NIM expansion following the release of added liquidity.
Final Takeaway
Management framed Q2 as a post-Cadence-conversion inflection point, emphasizing strong loan and deposit momentum, accelerating fee growth across payments/wealth/capital markets, and a Q4 2026 earnings-power step-up driven by synergy run-rate and efficiency initiatives. While the company kept its 2027 targets intact, executives acknowledged that 2026 net interest income is expected to land at the bottom end of the range or modestly below, attributing the change primarily to deposit-cost dynamics and the rate backdrop, and repeatedly positioned fee strength, deposit optimization, and disciplined return thresholds as offsets.
Read the full Earnings Call Transcript