Stocks · Financial Services · Banks - Regional
First Financial Bancorp. FFBC
$31.87 +1.14% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $3.34B
High qualityInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 27, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 5 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +5.8%).
- The diluted share count rose 9.3% in a year.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 214 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth74Positive
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 43%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 42%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 10%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 40%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 47%
Quality87Strong
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 21%
- Gross marginTop 38%
- Operating marginTop 37%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 13%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 24%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 38%
- Interest coverBottom 50%
Value84Strong
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 26%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 12%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 22%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 36%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 41%
Momentum64Neutral
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 25%
- 6-month returnTop 32%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 25%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 44%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 48%
Revisions49Neutral
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 45%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 24%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 36%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 32%
Stability52Neutral
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 49%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 44%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 35%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 38%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 8.3% | 8.3% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 17.4% | 13.2% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 66.2% | 69.8% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 23.0% | 26.9% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 21.9% | 57.7% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 8.3% | 8.3% | ↑ | Top 43% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 13.2% | 17.4% | ↓ | Bottom 42% |
| Gross margin | 69.8% | 66.2% | ↑ | Top 38% |
| Operating margin | 26.9% | 23.0% | ↑ | Top 37% |
| Net margin | 21.4% | 19.4% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 57.7% | 21.9% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 7.5% | — | Top 21% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 17.6% | — | Top 40% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.78×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -2.3%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -108.3 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.40×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 3.02%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.02%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +9.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +3.2%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 5
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 6 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $35.00
- Target vs current price
- +9.8%
- Analysts with a rating
- 19
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 37%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 21, 2026 | +2.6% | +0.5% | -5.4% | -3.7% | — |
| Apr 23, 2026 | +15.8% | +2.8% | +3.0% | +4.9% | +22.1% |
| Jan 28, 2026 | +1.3% | -0.3% | +8.0% | +7.8% | +9.4% |
| Oct 23, 2025 | +3.5% | -0.1% | -3.2% | -2.9% | +8.5% |
| Jul 24, 2025 | +7.2% | -2.0% | +0.7% | +4.5% | -4.4% |
| Apr 24, 2025 | +0.0% | +0.7% | -2.9% | +1.6% | +3.2% |
| Jan 23, 2025 | +9.2% | +0.1% | -1.0% | -1.6% | -19.0% |
| Oct 24, 2024 | -16.7% | -0.2% | +2.2% | +12.5% | +9.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 21, 2026 | $0.80 | $0.78 | +2.6% | $264.2M |
| Apr 23, 2026 | $0.71 | $0.61 | +15.8% | $271.5M |
| Jan 28, 2026 | $0.80 | $0.79 | +1.3% | $238.8M |
| Oct 23, 2025 | $0.76 | $0.73 | +3.5% | $255.8M |
| Jul 24, 2025 | $0.74 | $0.69 | +7.2% | $226.3M |
| Apr 24, 2025 | $0.63 | $0.63 | +0.0% | $200.4M |
| Jan 23, 2025 | $0.71 | $0.65 | +9.2% | $224.3M |
| Oct 24, 2024 | $0.55 | $0.66 | -16.7% | $201.3M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 11.3× | 10.5× | 67th | Top 26% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.5× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 8.6× | — | — | Top 22% |
| EV / Sales | 2.63× | — | — | Top 36% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 22.99% | — | — | Top 12% |
| Earnings yield | 8.88% | — | — | Top 26% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.1× – 12.4× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +25.9%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +13.2%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +26.8%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 214
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.3%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -3.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +4.9%
- RSI (14)
- 45.9
- Relative volume
- 0.86×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 20.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 0th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.83
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.48
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -11.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -27.3%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14, 2022 | Oct 25, 2023 | -35.0% | 446 days | 187 days (Jul 25, 2024) |
| Nov 25, 2024 | Apr 11, 2025 | -27.3% | 93 days | 206 days (Feb 6, 2026) |
| Mar 12, 2021 | Jul 19, 2021 | -18.6% | 88 days | 121 days (Jan 7, 2022) |
| Feb 9, 2026 | Mar 18, 2026 | -15.0% | 26 days | 57 days (Jun 9, 2026) |
| Jul 26, 2024 | Aug 12, 2024 | -14.7% | 11 days | 61 days (Nov 6, 2024) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $3.34B
- P/E (TTM)
- 11.3
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.83
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.33B
- Dividend yield
- 3.17%
- 52-week range
- $23.06 – $36.24
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $654.7M | $774.6M | $1.12B | $1.23B | $1.26B |
| Gross profit | $641.7M | $697.1M | $797.1M | $787.9M | $861.8M |
| Operating income | $240.9M | $241.7M | $318.6M | $268.3M | $321.3M |
| Net income | $205.2M | $217.6M | $255.9M | $228.8M | $255.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.14 | $2.30 | $2.69 | $2.40 | $2.66 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $302.8M | $321.4M | $291.5M | $314.0M | $323.8M | $330.1M | $364.3M | $314.2M |
| Net income | $52.5M | $64.9M | $51.3M | $70.0M | $71.9M | $62.4M | $74.4M | $76.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.55 | $0.68 | $0.54 | $0.73 | $0.75 | $0.64 | $0.71 | $0.73 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $388.2M | $200.8M | $487.0M | $262.2M | $337.9M |
| Capital expenditure | -$15.3M | -$13.8M | -$24.1M | -$21.1M | -$20.8M |
| Free cash flow | $372.8M | $187.1M | $462.8M | $241.1M | $317.1M |
| Dividends paid | -$87.3M | -$86.6M | -$87.2M | -$89.5M | -$94.6M |
| Net share buybacks | -$108.1M | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $5.87B
- Total assets
- $22.44B
- Total liabilities
- $19.45B
- Total debt
- $952.5M
- Net debt
- $164.6M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.99B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $0.26 | Sep 15, 2026 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | $0.25 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | $0.25 | Mar 16, 2026 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | $0.25 | Dec 15, 2025 |
| Sep 2, 2025 | $0.25 | Sep 15, 2025 |
| Jun 2, 2025 | $0.24 | Jun 16, 2025 |
| Mar 3, 2025 | $0.24 | Mar 17, 2025 |
| Dec 2, 2024 | $0.24 | Dec 16, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 6,108,451
- Days to cover
- 8.74
- Change vs previous report
- +11.0%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Mar 7, 2001
- 21-for-20
- Dec 1, 1999
- 11-for-10
- Dec 2, 1998
- 11-for-10
- Jun 2, 1998
- 2-for-1
- Sep 3, 1997
- 11-for-10