First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA): Buy, Sell, or Hold Post Q2 Earnings? Radek Strnad Fri, October 16, 2026 at 12:59 PM EDT 3 min read FCNCA +0.90% ^GSPC -1.15% Trade FCNCA on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
First Citizens BancShares trades at $2,097 per share and has stayed right on track with the overall market, gaining 5.8% over the last six months. At the same time, the S&P 500 has returned 9.7%.
Is there a buying opportunity in First Citizens BancShares, or does it present a risk to your portfolio? Dive into our full research report to see our analyst team's opinion, it's free.
We don't have much confidence in First Citizens BancShares. Here are three reasons why there are better opportunities than FCNCA, plus one stock we'd rather own.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a stretched historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. First Citizens BancShares's recent performance marks a sharp pivot from its five-year trend as its revenue has shown annualized declines of 2.9% over the last two years.
Net interest margin (NIM) serves as a critical gauge of a bank's fundamental profitability by showing the spread between interest income and interest expenses. It's essential for understanding whether a firm can sustainably generate returns from its lending operations.
Over the past two years, First Citizens BancShares's net interest margin averaged 3.2%. Its margin also contracted by 63.1 basis points (100 basis points = 1 percentage point) over that period.
This decline was a headwind for its net interest income. While prevailing rates are a major determinant of net interest margin changes over time, the decline could mean that First Citizens BancShares either faced competition for loans and deposits or experienced a negative mix shift in its balance sheet composition.
Although long-term earnings trends give us the big picture, we like to analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.
Sadly for First Citizens BancShares, its EPS and revenue declined by 2.1% and 2.9% annually over the last two years. We tend to steer our readers away from companies with falling revenue and EPS, where diminishing earnings could imply changing secular trends and preferences. If the tide turns unexpectedly, First Citizens BancShares's low margin of safety could leave its stock price susceptible to large downswings.
First Citizens BancShares isn't a terrible business, but it doesn't pass our quality test. That said, the stock currently trades at 1.1× forward P/B (or $2,097 per share). While this valuation is reasonable, we don't really see a big opportunity at the moment. We're fairly confident there are better investments elsewhere. We'd suggest looking at one of our top digital advertising picks.
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