Regional banking company Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VLY) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 12.6% year on year to $540.4 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.29 per share was 5.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
Is now the time to buy Valley National Bank? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.
Valley National Bank (VLY) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Interest Income: $471.5 million vs analyst estimates of $465.2 million (39.9% year-on-year decline, 1.4% beat)
- Net Interest Margin: 3.2% vs analyst estimates of 3.2% (in line)
- Revenue: $540.4 million vs analyst estimates of $534.7 million (12.6% year-on-year growth, 1.1% beat)
- Efficiency Ratio: 53.1% vs analyst estimates of 55.5% (241 basis point beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.29 vs analyst estimates of $0.27 (5.7% beat)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $9.94 vs analyst estimates of $10.02 (7.5% year-on-year growth, 0.8% miss)
- Market Capitalization: $7.34 billion
Ira Robbins, CEO, commented, "We continue to execute on our strategic priorities by growing low-cost core deposits and further diversifying our loan portfolio. These efforts have strengthened our balance sheet metrics and enhanced the sustainability of our earnings and profitability. Through targeted hiring efforts of strategically focused bankers, we are positioned to build on the momentum that we have established in recent years."
Company Overview
Tracing its roots back to 1927 during the economic boom before the Great Depression, Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQGS:VLY) operates Valley National Bank, providing commercial, consumer, and wealth management banking services across several 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. Regrettably, Valley National Bank’s revenue grew at a mediocre 9.6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This fell short of our benchmark for the banking sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Valley National Bank’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 6.3% 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, Valley National Bank reported year-on-year revenue growth of 12.6%, and its $540.4 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.1%.
Net interest income made up 91.6% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning Valley National Bank lives and dies by its lending activities because non-interest income barely moves the needle.
Markets consistently prioritize net interest income growth over fee-based revenue, recognizing its superior quality and recurring nature compared to the more unpredictable non-interest income streams.
ONE MORE THING: 3 Hidden Platforms Growing 3X Faster than Amazon, Google, and PayPal. Amazon, Google, and Meta all followed the same playbook: Dominate an ignored market. Build an unbeatable moat. Scale until you’re unstoppable.
These three platforms are running that exact playbook right now. The early investors in Amazon made fortunes. The early investors in these could do the same. Get All 3 Stocks Here for FREE.
Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Banks operate as balance sheet businesses, with profits generated through borrowing and lending activities. Valuations reflect this reality, emphasizing balance sheet strength and long-term book value compounding ability.
When analyzing banks, tangible book value per share (TBVPS) takes precedence over many other metrics. This measure isolates genuine per-share value by removing intangible assets of debatable liquidation worth. EPS can become murky due to acquisition impacts or accounting flexibility around loan provisions, and TBVPS resists financial engineering manipulation.
Valley National Bank’s TBVPS grew at a decent 5.9% annual clip over the last five years. The last two years show a similar trajectory as TBVPS grew by 5.8% annually from $8.88 to $9.94 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Valley National Bank’s TBVPS to grow by 9.8% to $10.91, paltry growth rate.
Key Takeaways from Valley National Bank’s Q1 Results
It was good to see Valley National Bank narrowly top analysts’ net interest income expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its tangible book value per share slightly missed. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock remained flat at $13.31 immediately following the results.
Should you buy the stock or not? 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).
