Commerce announces 60 cents in 4Q per-share earnings

Kansas City-based Commerce Bancshares Inc., the holding company for Commerce Bank, announced fourth-quarter financial results Thursday, including earnings of 60 cents per share for the quarter.

The fourth-quarter earnings total was up 9.1 percent from fourth-quarter 2008 and down 4.8 percent from the third quarter of 2009.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $49.6 million, up from $43.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The return on average assets was 1.09 percent, and the return on average equity was 10.5 percent.

"We continued to strengthen our balance sheet this quarter through growth in both capital and liquidity," Chairman and CEO David Kemper said in the earnings release. "Our ratio of tangible common equity to assets increased to 9.7 percent this quarter while our loan to deposit ratio totaled 73.6 percent, reflecting strong capital and liquidity positions among our banking peers. Also, we increased our allowance for loan losses this quarter by $4 million, but reduced nonperforming assets by $12.6 million, or 10 percent."

For the year, the company earned $2.07 per share, down 12.2 percent from the $2.36 per share earned in 2008. Net income was $169.1 million, down from $188.7 million.

Commerce Bank operates 370 branches in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado. Shares of company stock (Nasdaq: CBSH) closed Wednesday at $39.59 and were trading at $40.65 as of 10:20 a.m., near the company's 52-week high of $40.79.