FHB FIRST HAWAIIAN, INC.

Nasdaq State Commercial Banks DE CIK: 0000036377
AI RATING
SELL
65% Confidence

Investment Thesis

First Hawaiian exhibits strong profitability margins and cash generation, but faces fundamental business deterioration with revenue declining 7.4% YoY and net earnings flat, indicating structural headwinds in the operating environment. The critically poor returns on capital (ROE 2.4%, ROA 0.3%) combined with dangerously thin interest coverage (1.0x) expose the bank to significant refinancing and credit quality risks.

Strengths

  • + Strong operating margin of 39.7% and net margin of 30.8%
  • + Excellent free cash flow generation with FCF margin of 70.5%
  • + Conservative capital structure with low 0.18x debt-to-equity ratio
  • + Significant insider activity with 36 Form 4 filings in past 90 days

Risks

  • ! Revenue declining 7.4% YoY with flat net income growth indicates structural business deterioration
  • ! Extremely poor returns on capital (ROE 2.4%, ROA 0.3%) far below peer norms for regional banks
  • ! Interest coverage ratio of 1.0x is critically tight, leaving minimal margin for rate environment shifts or credit deterioration
  • ! EPS growth (+22.9%) driven by share buybacks rather than underlying earnings improvement, masking weakness

Key Metrics to Watch

Financial Metrics

Revenue
220.3M
Net Income
67.8M
EPS (Diluted)
$0.55
Free Cash Flow
155.4M
Total Assets
24.3B
Cash
1.7B

Profitability Ratios

Gross Margin N/A
Operating Margin 39.7%
Net Margin 30.8%
ROE 2.4%
ROA 0.3%
FCF Margin 70.5%

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Current Ratio
N/A
Quick Ratio
N/A
Debt/Equity
0.18x
Debt/Assets
88.6%
Interest Coverage
0.97x
Long-term Debt
500.0M
Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI based on publicly available SEC EDGAR filings. It does not include stock price data and should not be considered financial advice. All fundamental data is sourced from SEC public domain filings. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
Data Source: SEC EDGAR | Analysis Date: 2026-05-06T12:06:57.641122 | Data as of: 2026-03-31 | Powered by Claude AI