NEW YORK, May 21, 2026, 15:01 (EDT)
NewtekOne Inc. shares traded higher Thursday afternoon. Investors circled back to the small-business lender’s push to become a bank, following a string of investor meetings and first-quarter results that left its 2026 earnings target unchanged.
The Nasdaq stock gained 1.1% to $13.40, holding in a range between $13.00 and $13.40. Volume was 62,234 shares, with a market cap of roughly $386.7 million. The KRE regional-bank ETF added 0.2%, and the QQQ was also up 0.2%.
NewtekOne plans to take part in the B. Riley Securities investor conference in Los Angeles on May 20-21, with the company saying management will hold one-on-ones throughout its late-May conference stretch. Another event is lined up for Miami on May 26-28. The timing could be key.
NewtekOne isn’t the classic business-development company anymore. The company now operates as a financial holding company, offering banking, business loans, payment processing, insurance, and payroll to independent business owners nationwide.
The company posted first-quarter basic and diluted EPS of $0.43, higher than $0.36 and $0.35 in the same period last year. EPS is profit per common share. CEO Barry Sloane said the company is still “comfortable” with its 2026 EPS target of $2.15 to $2.55. SEC
Loan growth at NewtekOne was uneven but still got attention. The company originated $202 million in SBA 7(a) loans, which have a partial government guarantee, and $86 million in C&I LA loans, which are longer-term commercial and industrial credits. In total, first-quarter loan production hit $391 million.
Deposits keep driving the action. Newtek Bank finished the quarter with nearly $1.9 billion in deposits, up 92% year-over-year and 31% from last quarter, according to the company. Sloane told investors, “NewtekOne is more than just an SBA lender.” SEC
Shares last traded at $13.40, or roughly 1.13x NewtekOne’s tangible book value per common share of $11.85 as of March 31. Tangible book value excludes goodwill and other intangibles. Bank investors often use that number for a basic read on capital.
Live Oak Bancshares added 0.8% and Customers Bancorp ticked up 0.3% after a modestly supportive peer read. Live Oak’s bank is listed as an SBA Preferred Lender, and Customers Bancorp pitches itself to entrepreneurs.
Analysts are staying cautious. Timothy Switzer at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods kept his Hold rating on May 1, moving the target up to $13 from $12, according to StockAnalysis data. Piper Sandler’s Crispin Love held his Hold in February, taking his target to $14 from $13.
Credit and margin are the issues in focus, not just growth. On the earnings call, Sloane flagged credit quality as “one of the biggest concerns.” Nonperforming loans totaled about $54 million at the end of the quarter. The loan book still has seasoning risk, since it’s young. The Motley Fool
TipRanks in a recent summary of the call pointed out NewtekOne is facing some margin pressure from too much liquidity and higher net charge-offs, or loans the company writes off after trying to recover them. That’s the risk. NewtekOne could keep growing deposits and loans, but earnings might fall short if more money just sits in low-yield cash or credit losses outpace the company’s reserves.
NEWT is still getting priced more like a small-cap bank with some tech and SBA-lending exposure, rather than a straight regional bank. What comes next: management trying to turn that quick deposit pickup into earning assets, watching how much gets eaten up by credit costs along the way.
