Regional banking company WaFd (NASDAQ: WAFD) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 10% year on year to $197.4 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.83 per share was 10.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
Is now the time to buy WaFd Bank? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.
WaFd Bank (WAFD) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Interest Income: $177.6 million vs analyst estimates of $173.3 million (10.4% year-on-year growth, 2.5% beat)
- Net Interest Margin: 2.8% vs analyst estimates of 2.7% (11.3 basis point beat)
- Revenue: $197.4 million vs analyst estimates of $190.5 million (10% year-on-year growth, 3.6% beat)
- Efficiency Ratio: 55.7% vs analyst estimates of 56.3% (64 basis point beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.83 vs analyst estimates of $0.75 (10.7% beat)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $30.27 vs analyst estimates of $30.14 (6.9% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Market Capitalization: $2.46 billion
Company Overview
Founded in 1917 and rebranded from Washington Federal in 2023, WaFd (NASDAQ: WAFD) is a bank holding company that provides lending, deposit services, and insurance through its Washington Federal Bank subsidiary across eight western states.
Sales Growth
Net interest income and and fee-based revenue are the two pillars supporting bank earnings. The former captures profit from the gap between lending rates and deposit costs, while the latter encompasses charges for banking services, credit products, wealth management, and trading activities. Over the last five years, WaFd Bank grew its revenue at a tepid 7.5% compounded annual growth rate. This fell short of our benchmark for the banking sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. WaFd Bank’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 4% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, WaFd Bank reported year-on-year revenue growth of 10%, and its $197.4 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.6%.
Net interest income made up 90.9% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning WaFd Bank lives and dies by its lending activities because non-interest income barely moves the needle.
Net interest income commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas non-interest income is often seen as lower-quality revenue that lacks the same dependable characteristics.
ONE MORE THING: The $21 AI Application Stock Wall Street Forgot. While Wall Street obsesses over who’s building AI, one company is already using it to print money. And nobody’s paying attention.
AI chip stocks trade at ridiculous valuations. This company processes a trillion consumer signals monthly using AI and trades at a third of the price. The gap won’t last. The institutions will figure it out. You need to see this first. Read the FREE Report Before They Notice.
Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Banks profit by intermediating between depositors and borrowers, making them fundamentally balance sheet-driven enterprises. Market participants emphasize balance sheet quality and sustained book value growth when evaluating these institutions.
This explains why tangible book value per share (TBVPS) stands as the premier banking metric. TBVPS strips away questionable intangible assets, revealing concrete per-share net worth that investors can trust. Other (and more commonly known) per-share metrics like EPS can sometimes be murky due to M&A or accounting rules allowing for loan losses to be spread out.
WaFd Bank’s TBVPS grew at a decent 5.1% annual clip over the last five years. TBVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 6.6% annually over the last two years from $26.64 to $30.27 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for WaFd Bank’s TBVPS to grow by 5.8% to $32.02, lousy growth rate.
Key Takeaways from WaFd Bank’s Q1 Results
We enjoyed seeing WaFd Bank beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its net interest income outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. The stock remained flat at $32.75 immediately following the results.
WaFd Bank may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
