Stonegate Capital Partners Initiates Coverage on Veritex Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: VBTX)

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / March 5, 2018 / Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: VBTX).

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Founded in June 2009 by the current CEO, Malcolm Holland, Veritex Holdings, Inc. operates through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Veritex Community Bank. The bank offers personal and business banking products, with a focus on small-to-medium sized businesses and professionals. Since its inception, the Company has grown organically and through strategic acquisitions, primarily in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Current operations include 21 continuing branch locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston markets. Two branch locations in Austin were under a purchase agreement at year-end and closed January 1st. As of 12/31/17, the Company had total assets of $3.0 billion, total loans of $2.3 billion, and total deposits of $2.3 billion. Veritex Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

SUMMARY

Through organic growth accompanied by strategic acquisitions, Veritex has grown sequentially and substantially. The experienced Veritex management team has developed a sound business model and a stable geographic base from which to continue its disciplined growth strategy. Given the Company’s track record of financially attractive acquisitions, combined with expanding profitability, strong credit metrics, and operational efficiency, we anticipate meaningful growth going forward.

Veritex has built a solid franchise in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, one of the most economically robust regions in the U.S. With its headquarters and strategic foothold in the DFW area (and having recently just closed on the purchase of its corporate office building in Dallas), Veritex is building scale and efficiency. As Veritex derives synergies from its acquisitions, we look for tangible book value and earnings to show sizeable increases.
VBTX is building scarcity value – there are very few banks of its size that have a comparable presence in the high-growth Dallas/Fort Worth market. This factor should not only result in a premium valuation, but it also could make Veritex an attractive target for a larger bank.
Veritex continues to seek accretive acquisitions that will strengthen its franchise and leverage its capabilities. We expect VBTX to turn its attention toward building its Houston franchise with targets in the $350 to $1 billion range. With 7 million residents, Houston is the 5th largest populated metro area in the U.S. and is projected to grow by nearly 25% by 2025.
On August 1, 2017, VBTX closed on the $1.1 billion Sovereign Bancshares, Inc. acquisition, the Company’s 5th transaction in seven years. This low-risk in-market expansion significantly increases the Company’s scale, making Veritex the 17th largest bank in the DFW area, in terms of deposit market share.

The Liberty Bancshares, Inc. acquisition closed 12/1/17 and will further expand the Company’s presence in the DFW metro area, and particularly in high-growth Tarrant County. Liberty’s core competencies include an experienced lending team with long-term relationships in the community as well as strong asset quality and a clean credit profile. Importantly, the secondary offering executed in conjunction with the acquisition provides approximately $57 million of net undeployed capital for further growth.
We are using a P/E and P/TBV comparisons analysis to arrive at our valuation ranges. For our P/E analysis we use a range of 16x to 20x on our FY18 EPS estimate to arrive at valuation range of $29.00 to $36.25 with a mid-point of $32.75. On a P/TBV basis, we use a range of 2.2x t0 2.8x to arrive at a valuation range of $28.25 to $36.00, with a mid-point of $32.00. See the full report for details.

The full report can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

http://www.stonegateinc.com/reports/VBTX_Initial_MAR_2018.pdf

About Stonegate Capital Partners

Stonegate Capital Partners is a Dallas-based corporate advisory firm dedicated to serving the specialized needs of small-cap public companies. Since our inception, our mission has been to find innovative, undervalued public companies for our network of leading institutional investors who seek high-quality investment opportunities.

SOURCE: Stonegate Capital Partners

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