FRGB ==> The Kickoff Classic Winner

[New-born baby]

I hope you didn't get burned

Your TA might not be so "muddy" afterall NB....

I hope you didn't get burned. Best to you always!

[Lyehopper]

I hope you didn't get burned. Best to you always!

Not down that much yet.... I'm holding tight.

[New-born baby]

Support

FRGB has really hung tough this past week. It has been hammered and hammered and hammered, and yet she has managed to hang tough near $71. But today that support has weakened and she's barely a $70 stock. Watch what happens next. No stock can take a continuous pummelling of its support without busting it.

[spikefader]

FRGB has really hung tough this past week. It has been hammered and hammered and hammered, and yet she has managed to hang tough near $71. But today that support has weakened and she's barely a $70 stock. Watch what happens next. No stock can take a continuous pummelling of its support without busting it.

Yes, the channel turn down chased short at 71.50 and it's going to 60.00 support pretty quick I think.

Now people; note that triple top back there. They are powerful. Put that lesson in the back of your heads. The fact that the other day it has broken the major reg channel (when I was very bullish on it against NB) is even more bearish. It's the same old 'market' story over and over and over. And now, this stock has to PROVE first that one should be long; right now, it's not doing that. The only thing it's doing is PROVING one should be short.

[jiesen]

FRGB earnings look pretty good to me!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060125/law086.html?.v=37

First Regional Bancorp's Net Income Increases 139% in 2005 as Company Registers Highest-Ever Quarterly Results for the Three Months Ended December 31, 2005
Wednesday January 25, 4:30 pm ET

Financial Highlights Include: * Fourth quarter net income highest in company's 26-year history * 139% year-to-year increase in net income * Total assets rise 39% to new record level * Total deposits climb 42% and net loans rose 48%, setting new highs * Equity capital posts 37% growth

CENTURY CITY, Calif., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Regional Bancorp (Nasdaq: FRGB - News) today reported that fourth quarter net income advanced 84% as the company again set a new quarterly earnings record, surpassing the previous mark set in the immediately preceding third quarter. Net income for the full year climbed 139% to a new all-time high and marked the sixth consecutive year of record earnings.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2005, net income totaled $7.9 million, or $1.83 per diluted share, an 84% increase from earnings of $4.3 million (equal to $1.06 per diluted share) a year ago. For the full year of 2005, net income rose to a record $26.5 million, equal to $6.18 per diluted share, from $11.1 million, or $2.84 per diluted share, in 2004.

Jack A. Sweeney, chairman and chief executive officer, commented: "It is gratifying to see our hard work reflected in First Regional's outstanding results for 2005. The year's results were exceptional, with profits, assets and other key financial measures all setting new highs. Our 2005 results will serve as a solid foundation to continue building First Regional."

He noted: "First Regional added more than $507 million in new assets during the year, reaching $1.8 billion, a 39% increase from $1.3 billion last year. Deposits grew by $420 million, a 42% rise, to $1.4 billion from $1.0 billion at December 31, 2004. The bank also recorded substantial growth in net loans, which increased by $544 million, advancing 48% to $1.7 billion from $1.1 billion a year ago."

Mr. Sweeney continued: "Our successful performance was a direct result of our continued adherence to our long-standing strategic focus of meeting the financial services needs of businesses and professionals. We also benefited from continued strong performance in the Southern California business and real estate sectors, plus actions by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and thus increase our net interest margins during the year.

"First Regional has built a successful network, with nine regional offices located in important business centers throughout Southern California, along with the complementary activities of our Trust and Investment Division and our Trust Administrative Services and First Regional Merchant Services business units. Our expanding team of skilled bankers continues to forge important relationships with customers in the real estate, professional services, manufacturing, and wholesale sectors. Our clients value the quality of our personalized, professional services. Also of prime importance, we remain focused on further expanding our financial strength and flexibility. First Regional's equity capital was $106.0 million at year-end, a 37% increase from $77.4 million twelve months earlier."

Mr. Sweeney concluded: "While we are enthusiastic about First Regional Bancorp's prospects, we must note that factors such as a decline in business activity in our key markets could have an adverse impact on our future results. Our management team is prepared to react swiftly to such possibilities consistent with our conservative, risk-averse philosophy.

"Despite these caveats, we have the people, financial strength, and infrastructure in place to successfully execute our strategy. For the longer-term, we continue to strive for further increases in shareholder value through carefully controlled growth and the maintenance of high asset quality." First Regional Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Century City, California. Its subsidiary, First Regional Bank, specializes in providing businesses and professionals with the management expertise of a major bank and the personalized service of an independent

[Gatorman]

FRGB Results

Those results are excellent!
Hopefully it will be reflected in an endorsement by the market in the way of a huge runup in price.

[mrmarket]

Those results are excellent!
Hopefully it will be reflected in an endorsement by the market in the way of a huge runup in price.

With its low volume and low float it will take off like a rocket!

[casinoboy3]

Good thing too, FRGB taking off like a rocket, to make up for the HUGE hit to CNXS today. At least RIO is getting close!

[mrmarket]

Great Reuters article!

First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) has been growing fast. But the bank's relatively attractive price tag is what really caught our eye and that's what enabled FRGB to land on the Reuters Select stock screen in the value category for Relative Value.


We recently initiated a short series on regional banks. As part of this series, we focus today on California's FRGB.

FRGB has been posting revenue and earnings-per-share (EPS) growth rates that far exceed the industry averages. Further, the pace of advance has accelerated from its longer-term average, widening its lead in the trailing 12-month (TTM) span from its five-year norm. It has also fared well in the most recent quarter (MRQ).

Growth Rates(%) Company Industry Sector S&P 500
Sales (MRQ) vs Qtr. 1 Yr. Ago 98.89 29.97 23.50 16.76
Sales (TTM) vs TTM 1 Yr. Ago 97.75 29.58 24.74 16.84
Sales - 5 Yr. Growth Rate 29.47 3.35 9.55 9.60

EPS (MRQ) vs Qtr. 1 Yr. Ago 104.91 14.67 13.98 19.57
EPS (TTM) vs TTM 1 Yr. Ago 136.15 9.82 17.05 20.11
EPS - 5 Yr. Growth Rate 36.98 11.33 16.01 14.38

Capital Spending - 5 Yr. Growth Rate 28.15 -50.69 -24.47 -11.05

Learn about Growth Rate Ratios



On a certain level, this is partly the result of its geographic location. Based in Century City, California, FRGB has benefited from the fast economic growth and hot real-estate market in the southern part of the state. But, this explains only part of its success. After all, FRGB ranks in the top five of 54 California banks for fastest revenue growth. Consider the following tables, which also show that California banks, on average, have been growing much faster than the industry norm.


Bank Rank (out of 54) MRQ Revenue Growth Rate %
First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) 1 98.89
Alliance Bancshares California (ABNS) 2 97.81
Community Bancorp Inc. (CMBC) 3 90.38
Bridge Capital Holdings (BBNK) 4 77.98
Bay View Capital Corporation (BVC) 5 74.98
California Average N/A 38.50
Industry Average N/A 30.02





Bank Rank (out of 54) TTM Revenue Growth Rate %
First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) 1 97.75
Bridge Capital Holdings (BBNK) 2 76.12
Community Bancorp Inc. (CMBC) 3 62.26
East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC) 4 61.78
Hanmi Financial Corp (HAFC) 5 61.33
California Average N/A 33.15
Industry Average N/A 29.36





Bank Rank (out of 54) 5-Year Revenue Growth Rate %
Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (PMBC) 1 75.35
Vineyard National Bancorp (VNBC) 2 52.85
First Community Banc. (FCBP) 3 43.04
1st Centennial Bancorp (FCEN) 4 31.36
First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) 5 29.47
California Average N/A 11.38
Industry Average N/A 2.84




Its top-line performance has helped to propel EPS growth, and FRGB similarly sits near the top of the list here.


Bank Rank (out of 54) MRQ EPS Growth Rate %
Community West Bancshares (CWBC) 1 119.88
First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) 2 104.86
Bridge Capital Holdings (BBNK) 3 78.96
Southwest Community Bancorp (SWCB) 4 66.30
Placer Sierra Bancshares (PLSB) 5 62.94
California Average N/A 17.50
Industry Average N/A 11.79





Bank Rank (out of 54) TTM EPS Growth Rate %
SVB Financial Group (SIVB) 1 183.14
First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) 2 136.06
National Mercantile Bancorp (MBLA) 3 109.33
Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (PMBC) 4 85.97
Center Financial Corporation (CLFC) 5 64.14
California Average N/A 33.70
Industry Average N/A 9.87





Bank Rank (out of 54) 5-Year EPS Growth Rate %
Fremont General Corporation (FMT) 1 62.12
Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. (WIBC) 2 46.32
First Regional Bancorp (FRGB) 3 36.98
Central Valley Community Bancorp (CVCY) 4 35.79
Nara Bancorp, Inc. (NARA) 5 32.05
California Average N/A 17.16
Industry Average N/A 11.02




This fast growth pushed FRGB's earnings to a record high in the fourth quarter. This solid performance is the result of the bank's focus on serving business and professionals, which has helped its deposits and loans grow nicely. Total deposits in 2005 climbed 42%, reaching $1.4 billion, while net new loans advanced 48%, to close the year at $1.7 billion. Further, FRGB's net interest margin (NIM), which is calculated as net interest income divided by average earning assets, improved during the year, while the Federal Reserve hiked short-term borrowing costs: NIM climbed from 5.49% in the third quarter of 2004 to 6.01% in the final three months of 2005. For the whole year, NIM improved substantially, from 5.09% to 5.97%.

The pace of increase in overall economic activity appears to be easing: GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2005 was a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1%, down from 4.1% in the third quarter. This does not mean that the economy is slowing, only growing at a slower clip. Yet, according to the most recent Federal Reserve Beige Book report on regional economic activity, the San Francisco district remains quite solid. Still, there are some hints of softening, particularly in the real estate market, where houses in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area are taking longer to sell. Nonetheless, the commercial real estate market remains strong.

Against this backdrop, analysts look for further gains at FRGB: EPS is expected to hit $7.91 this year, then $9.05 in 2007; the long-term EPS growth rate is 14%.

It's the valuation that grabbed our attention. After all, it landed on the Reuters Select Relative Value screen, which seeks stocks that are trading at reasonable valuations, relative to their industry peers.

The screen requires that a stock's price to earnings (P/E), P/Sales, and P/Cash Flow ratios are no more than 10% above the industry averages. With readings south of the peer norms, FRGB easily meets this criterion, as indicated on the table below.


Valuation Ratios Company Industry Sector S&P 500
P/E Ratio (TTM) 13.83 15.63 15.96 21.35
P/E High - Last 5 Yrs. 27.85 27.91 28.35 38.82
P/E Low - Last 5 Yrs. 8.18 11.36 11.93 15.04

Beta 0.38 0.53 0.77 1.00

Price to Sales (TTM) 3.47 4.25 3.17 2.89
Price to Book (MRQ) 3.03 2.12 2.46 4.06
Price to Tangible Book (MRQ) 3.03 3.04 3.92 7.12
Price to Cash Flow (TTM) 13.34 13.88 14.22 15.66
Price to Free Cash Flow (TTM) 14.79 24.27 17.65 30.55

% Owned Institutions 40.74 43.17 53.28 64.95

Learn about Valuation Ratios



Although these metrics are good for comparison purposes, there are a couple of problems with focusing exclusively on them. First, the industry averages are just that, averages. This means that the numbers can be skewed by outliers. You can click here to see a spreadsheet of growth and valuation factors for regional banks. Scanning this list, you will see that there are some banks with very high valuations, which distort the mean. For instance, there are a couple of banks in Michigan that have triple-digit P/E ratios; Virginia has a bank with a quadruple-digit P/E. At the other end of the spectrum, we see that banks in nine states and Puerto Rico have average P/E ratios below the average. One state (Alabama) is at the mean, and the rest are above it. Even in the California market, there is a significant gap between the lowest P/E bank and the highest P/E bank. Thus, it is possible for such a fast-growing bank to have a relatively low P/E. That said, valuation comparisons to the industry average are good for a quick reference point, as long as you realize that these outliers exist.

The second issue associated with looking at these valuation metrics is that they tell us little about expectations for future performance and the price associated with those expectations. For this, we turn to analyst EPS estimates and look at the PEG (forward P/E relative to long-term EPS growth rate) ratio. Lower PEG ratios indicate cheaper valuations, and the screen requires that companies have PEG ratios below 2.00.

Based on the EPS estimates for this year and 2007, FRGB is trading at forward P/E ratios of 8.9 and 7.8, respectively. Divide these figures by the long-term EPS growth rate of 14% and we see that FRGB has PEG ratios that are well below parity, easily clearing this hurdle of the screen, and further establishing this fast-growing bank as an attractive value play.

[mrmarket]

you sees? Up over 5%

[gerihearne]

Frgb

looks like it's breaking out
________
volcano vaporizer

[diogenes]

Looks pretty nice, indeed.

[mrmarket]

Frgb

Look at that little monkey go! So undervalued...so much overhead resistance cleared...this one is a no brainer now..

Can't LOSE Can't LOSE!

[DSteckler]

Not today. Technicals are overbought but a pullback to the 20-day EMA has been a good place to add shares.

[mrmarket]

Not today. Technicals are overbought but a pullback to the 20-day EMA has been a good place to add shares.

It's up 3.7% today.