Better-Than-Expected Profit for Cathay

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Cathay General Bancorp said Monday its third quarter profit rose a better-than-expected 15 percent and loans grew across the board.

The Los Angeles holding company for Cathay Bank reported third-quarter net income of $30 million (38 cents a share), compared with $26.2 million (33 cents) in the same period a year earlier.

Net interest income, before a provision for credit losses, rose 3 percent to $82.6 million. Non-interest income was up 7 percent to $16.72 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected the company to report profit of 36 cents on revenue of $94.4 million.

In the third quarter, Cathay General redeemed the last of the preferred stock it issued to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program Capital Purchase Program during the financial crisis.

“We continued to generate solid loan growth of $137.6 million, or 7.2 percent on an annualized basis, during the third quarter, which came from increases in commercial mortgage loans, residential mortgage loans and commercial loans,” Chief Executive Dunson Cheng said in a statement.

Shares closed up 12 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $24.81 on the Nasdaq. The earnings announcement came after the markets closed.