Capital City Bank Needs Scale To Leverage A Good Deposit Franchise

As a bank focused largely on northern Florida, Capital City Bank Group (NASDAQ:CCBG) has had a tough go of it. The serious credit losses and recession that followed the housing bubble led to a significant contraction in the balance sheet and the firm's largely rural, largely retail branch network has established a high-cost base that has pushed returns on equity into the low single-digits.

There are some intriguing opportunities here. The bank has the capital to do some M&A and its core north Florida markets seem to be poised for above-average growth. If management can find the way to better-leverage its branch network and reduce operating costs, the profit leverage would be substantial. Likewise, with the bank having made meaningful progress on credit clean-up, larger banks could find the combination of low-cost deposits and elevated expenses very appealing as a takeover target. Unfortunately, the stock has shot up almost a third since the election, and it is difficult to see the obvious upside now.

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Capital City Bank Needs Scale To Leverage A Good Deposit Franchise