Bayfirst Financial Corp (BAFN)
🔔 Watch stock
On July 26, 2026, our in-house stock scanner put BayFirst Financial 4th in the price-to-free-cash-flow ranking of the U.S. selection, at a ratio of 0.1. That looks like the bargain of the year. The filings with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC, tell a different story. The $207.7 million of free cash flow over the trailing four quarters is almost entirely proceeds from selling the bank's own loan book, which it has been unwinding since the fourth quarter of 2025; in the first quarter of 2026, $3.2 million flowed out. Add a change of control on July 14, 2026, a share count that has multiplied more than sixfold, and financial statements for 2024, 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 the bank itself says can no longer be relied on. What counts in the end is not how cheap a ratio looks, but where its numbers came from.
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 8 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. View all scanners
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
NeutralRegionalbank ohne KI-Umsatz und ohne konkreten KI-Bezug zum eigenen Geschäftsmodell — künstliche Intelligenz taucht in den sechs ausgewerteten Filings nur als allgemeine Risikofaktor-Formel der Bankbranche auf, in keinem der vier Quartalsberichte überhaupt.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-03-27 · 10-K 2025-03-25 · 10-Q 2026-05-12 · 10-Q 2025-11-12 · 10-Q 2025-08-11 · 10-Q 2025-05-13
Rated on July 26, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 1.82 | 490.70 | 32 | 2.60 | 30.90 | 98 | 98 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.06 | -140.70 | 28 | -10.50 | -1.20 | 74 | 74 |
| 2025: Q2 | -0.23 | -242.80 | 31 | 2.10 | -4.00 | 63 | 63 |
| 2025: Q3 | -3.52 | -1,762.40 | 17 | -45.40 | -109.00 | 47 | 47 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.46 | -125.20 | 21 | -34.10 | -11.80 | 101 | 101 |
| 2026: Q1 | -1.06 | – | 17 | -38.60 | -32.60 | -3 | -3 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
The regional bank itself works: net interest income rose to $45.8 million in 2025 (2024: $38.0 million), the net interest margin improved from 3.45 to 3.75 percent, and deposits reached $1.18 billion at December 31, 2025 after growing $40.7 million over the year. Twelve branches in a growing part of Florida, 143 full-time equivalents as of March 31, 2026.
Noninterest income collapsed from $60.5 million in 2024 to $18.4 million in 2025 and to $0.9 million in the first quarter of 2026 — the consequence of exiting nationwide SBA 7(a) lending in the fourth quarter of 2025. More than half of the previous earnings base disappeared; in the first quarter of 2026 net interest income also fell to $9.4 million and the margin to 3.42 percent.
Since July 15, 2026, the financial statements for 2024, 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, together with the related audit reports, may no longer be relied on (Item 4.02); the cause was $2.8 million of deferred origination costs and $2.1 million of accrued interest on defaulted loans. Amended filings are expected by August 12, 2026, a clawback review of incentive compensation is under way and possible material weaknesses are still being evaluated — after the annual report of March 27, 2026 had described disclosure controls as effective.
As of March 31, 2026, the bank's total capital ratio of 9.84 percent fell short of the 10.00 percent threshold for "well capitalized" status — the condition for $183.9 million of brokered deposits. The holding company held just $769 thousand of cash at December 31, 2025 and added the interest on its $6 million subordinated notes to principal instead of paying it. The $80 million placement of April 28, 2026 addresses this, but only the second-quarter 2026 report will show the result after the announced $40.1 million of charges.
On July 14, 2026, 4,106,905 voting shares became roughly 27 million; a single investor has held 42.38 percent since then and is joining both boards. Authorized common stock rose from 15 million to 100 million shares, and a rights offering for up to 4,108,072 further shares at $3.50 had been filed but was not effective as of July 26, 2026. Book value per share: $15.74 at March 31, 2026, after $22.77 a year earlier.
Rank 4 in our in-house price-to-free-cash-flow ranking of the U.S. selection at a ratio of 0.1 (as of July 26, 2026; 544 hits, 25 listed). The underlying $207.7 million of free cash flow over four quarters is arithmetically correct but comes from selling the bank's own loan book; in the first quarter of 2026 the figure was minus $3.2 million. The market capitalization in the data feed reflects the share count before July 14, 2026, so we do not use it here — nor any ratio derived from it.
BayFirst Financial is not a cheap bank; it is a bank in the middle of a rebuild whose ratio merely looks cheap. The $207.7 million of free cash flow over four quarters that lifts it to rank 4 in the price-to-free-cash-flow ranking is the proceeds of a clearance sale of its own SBA loan book — and the quarter that followed was negative. The core business, with twelve branches, $1.09 billion of deposits and a recent margin of 3.42 percent, is real. Alongside it sit financial statements the company withdrew on July 15, 2026, a capital ratio of 9.84 percent below the supervisory threshold, a change of control on July 14, 2026, and $40.1 million of charges that will only become visible with the numbers due July 30, 2026. Not investment advice.
- Hook and source: rank 4 in our in-house price-to-free-cash-flow ranking of the U.S. selection, measured live on July 26, 2026 (544 hits in total, 25 listed). The scanner lists are recomputed daily, so the placement is a snapshot.
- Why free cash flow reads differently at a bank: originating and selling loans held for sale runs through the operating line of the cash flow statement. A lender that stops originating and sells the existing stock produces its largest inflow precisely when it shuts the business down. 2025: $298.2 million of sale proceeds against $285.3 million of operating cash flow; first quarter of 2026: $0.7 million of proceeds and minus $3.2 million of operating cash flow.
- Data status and caveat: all figures for 2024, 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 are the official record as of July 26, 2026 but are currently being restated (Form 8-K of July 15, 2026, Item 4.02). Where the restated amount has already been published, it is named.
- Banks use their own metrics. The Altman Z-score reported in our overviews for industrial companies carries no meaning at lenders, and neither does enterprise value or price-to-sales. What counts is net interest income, net interest margin, provisions for credit losses, nonperforming loans and regulatory capital ratios.
- Risk of confusion: BayFirst Financial Corp. (BAFN, St. Petersburg, Florida) is not the same as similarly named regional banks in other states. The SEC registrant name remains "BayFirst Financial Corp."; no former names are recorded in the EDGAR history.
About the Company
BayFirst Financial Corp. ist die Bankholding der BayFirst National Bank, die Community-Banking-Dienstleistungen für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen sowie Privatpersonen anbietet.
| Employees | 143 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Saint Petersburg, FL |
| Website | bayfirstfinancial.com |
| IPO Date | 20. Nov 2019 |
| Next Earnings | 4. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Scott J. McKim | Executive VP & CFO | 1972 |
| Anthony Nicholas Leo J.D. | Special Advisor & Director | 1961 |
| Alfred T. Rogers Jr. | President, CEO & Director | 1965 |
| Brandi Nicole Jaber | Executive VP & Chief Administrative Officer | 1974 |
| Nickolas R. Smith | Executive VP & Chief Human Resources Officer | – |
| Susan P. Khayat | Executive VP & Chief Credit Officer | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 24, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.