Markets are closed today for New Year's Day. While 2020 was a positive year for major stock indexes in the U.S., not all companies did well. Financial stocks were hit hard compared to a year ago, and that pain was felt by shareholders of local banks.
A year ago, bank stocks were looking strong. Revenue had increased as 2019 went on — and by year’s end, stock prices of Hawaii’s four publicly-held banks were up between 15% and 34%.
2020 was a very different year, and much more challenging for both revenue and share prices.
First Hawaiian is the largest locally-based bank ranked by revenue — more than 624 million dollars in 2020—a drop of about 13% from a year ago. Its stock price has fallen a bit further — down about 16% in 2020.
Revenue at Bank of Hawaii dropped about 9% this year — while its stock price fell about 18%.
American Savings Bank is part of Hawaiian Electric Industries — and doesn’t trade as a separate stock. A quick note on scale, Central Pacific is less than a third the size of First Hawaiian as ranked by revenue, and its share price fell by more than a third in 2020.
The year ended a little better for shares of Territorial Savings Bank, which closed the year with a decline of about 21% compared to the first trading day of 2020.
One silver lining in the news, all of the local banks closed December well off their year’s lows — each of the institutions fell sharply in March and again in September, but all four have seen climbing stock prices since September.
