FBMS - First Bancshares Is Aggressively Building Its Footprint But Organic Loan Growth Is Lacking
It’s been a while since I’ve written about First Bancshares (FBMS), and the shares of this Mississippi-based bank have not performed particularly well in the meantime, with the shares falling about 15% and definitely lagging their community bank peer group. Not only has First Bancshares been pursuing a growth-by-acquisition strategy at a time when acquisitions have generally been frowned upon, the company hasn’t been doing a particularly good job of generating organic loan growth from that expanding footprint, with disappointing results for three straight quarters.
I believe that when investors start shifting