What Happened?
Shares of puerto Rican financial institution Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) jumped 5.8% in the afternoon session after it reported strong fourth-quarter 2025 financial results that surpassed analyst expectations for profit while meeting revenue forecasts.
The company announced quarterly earnings of $3.53 per share, which was 16.2% higher than analysts had predicted, while revenue grew 9% year-on-year to $823.8 million. A key driver of the positive results was net interest income, a core measure of bank profitability, which came in at $657.6 million, beating Wall Street's estimates. Furthermore, the company's tangible book value per share, a premier metric for valuing banks, grew 24.8% over the last year to $82.65. Overall, the solid earnings beat and outperformance in key banking metrics reassured investors about the company's financial health.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Popular’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago when the stock dropped 5.4% on the news that disclosures from two lenders raised concerns about deteriorating loan quality across the industry.
The drop was triggered by specific incidents that have spooked investors. Zions Bancorp announced a $50 million charge-off—a debt the bank doesn't expect to collect—on a single loan. Separately, Western Alliance Bancorp revealed it was dealing with a borrower who had failed to provide proper collateral. These events are compounding existing anxieties about the regional banking sector, which is already under pressure from elevated interest rates and declining commercial real estate values. The news heightened investor concerns that more cracks could appear in borrowers' creditworthiness, potentially leading to increased loan losses and reduced profitability for other banks in the sector.
Popular is up 3.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $130.11 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $130.18 from January 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Popular’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,359.
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