First Bancorp (FBNC) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $2.21B
• Dividend Yield: 1.69%
• Average Volume (3M): 208.85K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 33.4
• Beta (1Y): 0.96
• Revenue Growth: -5.72%
• EPS Growth: -3.86%
• Country: US
• Employees: 1,345
• Sector: Financial
• Sector Strength: 70
• Industry: Banks - Regional
• EPS (TTM): 0.38
• Shares Outstanding: 41,477,260
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 282,282
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 208,855
• PEG Ratio: 0.42
• Price to Book (P/B): 1.27
• Price to Sales (P/S): 3.87
• P/FCF Ratio: 10.56
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 0.97
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 3.94
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 5.62
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 13.84
• 1Y Price Target: $63.67
• Price Target Upside: 19.37% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 3
• EPS Forecast (FY): 4.52
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $512.49M

• Rating: 70 Outperform
• Price Target: $59.00 ▲(10.61% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/14/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/14/26

Score is driven primarily by solid financial performance (improving 2025 profitability, low leverage, and good cash-flow quality). Offsetting that strength are weak technicals (downtrend despite oversold signals) and an elevated P/E with only a modest dividend yield; the recent dividend increase is a supportive secondary positive.

Positive Factors

Balance-sheet strength

Very low debt-to-equity (about 0.01–0.05) and a growing equity base provide durable capital resilience. This supports lending capacity, regulatory buffers and the ability to absorb credit stress without forcing asset sales, enabling longer-term strategic flexibility and shareholder distributions.

Cash generation quality

Operating cash flow growth and FCF tracking earnings (FCF/net income ≈1.0) indicate high earnings quality and real cash conversion. Persistent cash generation supports sustainable dividends, loan originations, and investment in branches/technology, reducing reliance on volatile external funding.

Improving profitability and capital returns

Margin improvement to ~20% and a dividend increase reflect stronger earnings power and management confidence in capital adequacy. Sustained margins plus a capital-return policy help attract depositors and investors while signaling disciplined capital allocation over the medium term.

Negative Factors

Earnings and cash-flow volatility

Historical swings—peak profitability in 2022 followed by a reset and uneven free cash flow—point to cyclicality. For a regional bank, such variability complicates multi-period forecasting, constrains steady capital deployment and can force conservative provisioning in downturns.

Moderate return on equity

ROE in the mid-single digits suggests limited capital efficiency relative to higher-return peers. Even with low leverage, persistently moderate ROE can limit internal capital for growth or larger dividends and may pressure management to take on riskier asset mixes to boost returns.

Board/leadership transition risk

The retirement of a long-tenured director and the end of a decades-long family association introduce governance and succession risk. This may affect community relations, institutional knowledge and strategic continuity during a multi-quarter transition period as new governance dynamics settle.

First Bancorp Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses primarily in North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina. It accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers loans for a range of consumer and commercial purposes comprising loans for business, real estate, personal, home improvement, and automobiles, as well as residential mortgages and small business administration loans; and accounts receivable financing and factoring, inventory financing, and purchase order financing services. In addition, it provides credit and debit cards, letter of credits, and safe deposit box rental services, as well as electronic funds transfer services consisting of wire transfers; and internet and mobile banking, cash management, bank-by-phone services, and remote deposit capture services. Further, the company offers investment and insurance products, such as mutual funds, annuities, long-term care insurance, life insurance, and company retirement plans, as well as property and casualty insurance products; and financial planning services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 121 branches comprising 114 branch offices located in North Carolina and seven branches in South Carolina. First Bancorp was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

How the Company Makes Money

First Bancorp primarily makes money through (1) net interest income and (2) noninterest income. Net interest income is generated by earning interest and fees on loans and interest-earning assets (e.g., commercial and consumer loans, real estate loans, and investment securities) and paying interest on funding sources such as customer deposits and other borrowings; the difference between interest earned and interest paid (the net interest margin) is typically the largest driver of earnings for a traditional bank. Noninterest income comes from fees and service charges tied to banking activities, which commonly include deposit account service charges, card and payment-related fees, and other banking-related fees; specific categories may vary by period and are reported in the company’s financial statements. The company’s profitability is also influenced by credit quality (loan losses/credit-loss provisions), the mix and cost of deposits versus higher-cost funding, interest rate movements that affect yields and funding costs, and operating leverage (managing expenses relative to revenue). Significant partnerships or third-party relationships specific to FBNC are null.

First Bancorp Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Strong overall fundamentals: profitability improved meaningfully in 2025, leverage is very low with a growing equity base, and operating/free cash flow align well with earnings (good earnings quality). Main risks are the profitability reset from the 2022 peak and uneven free cash flow growth, indicating cyclicality.

Income Statement

Revenue has been largely stable with modest growth in 2025 (up ~2.6% YoY) after a small dip in 2024. Profitability improved meaningfully in 2025 versus 2024 (net margin ~20% vs ~14%; EBIT/EBITDA margins also stepped up), indicating stronger earnings power. The main weakness is volatility versus earlier years, with peak profitability in 2022 followed by a reset in 2023–2024, suggesting earnings can fluctuate with the operating environment.

Balance Sheet

Leverage appears conservative in the most recent years, with very low debt relative to equity in 2024–2025 (debt-to-equity ~0.01–0.05), supporting balance-sheet resilience. Equity has grown over time, providing a stronger capital base. Return on equity is positive but moderate in 2025 (~6.7%) and below the 2022 high, which signals profitability on shareholder capital has cooled even as the balance sheet strengthened.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is solid: operating cash flow increased from 2024 to 2025 (about $175M to $203M), and free cash flow closely tracks earnings with free cash flow to net income ~1.0 in 2025, suggesting good earnings quality. The key drawback is choppiness in free cash flow growth (down in 2023 and 2025 after stronger periods), indicating cash flow momentum is not consistently upward year to year.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	543.12M	530.81M	541.11M	407.66M	324.90M
Gross Profit	380.81M	327.40M	381.20M	379.16M	300.34M
EBITDA	154.64M	116.00M	151.17M	200.55M	134.25M
Net Income	111.05M	76.22M	104.13M	146.94M	95.64M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	12.67B	12.15B	12.11B	10.63B	10.51B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	2.20B	2.40B	2.43B	2.58B	3.09B
Total Debt	74.57M	14.55M	321.67M	237.82M	19.50M
Total Liabilities	11.01B	10.70B	10.74B	9.59B	9.28B
Stockholders Equity	1.65B	1.45B	1.37B	1.03B	1.23B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	198.89M	172.12M	126.97M	225.37M	132.93M
Operating Cash Flow	203.13M	174.78M	131.40M	230.65M	142.34M
Investing Cash Flow	-562.07M	169.67M	-191.37M	-713.36M	-1.27B
Financing Cash Flow	161.03M	-74.80M	27.51M	291.86M	1.23B

First Bancorp Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 53.34
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Positive

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For FBNC, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 53.34 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 57.29, below the 50-day MA of 57.59, and above the 200-day MA of 51.53, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of -1.42 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 32.29 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 7.81 is Positive, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for FBNC.

First Bancorp Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
FRME	76 Outperform	$2.32B	9.57	9.46%	3.72%	-1.76%	32.44%
FBNC	70 Outperform	$2.21B	33.41	7.03%	1.69%	-5.72%	-3.86%
NBTB	68 Neutral	$2.16B	11.56	9.51%	3.33%	11.63%	5.58%
Sector *	68 Neutral	$18.00B	11.42	9.92%	3.81%	9.73%	1.22%
BANR	67 Neutral	$2.01B	10.97	10.28%	2.97%	6.98%	15.08%
CUBI	67 Neutral	$2.27B	11.16	11.25%	―	-0.37%	-20.30%
SYBT	66 Neutral	$1.87B	13.61	13.69%	1.88%	11.74%	26.27%

First Bancorp Corporate Events

First Bancorp Raises Quarterly Dividend Amid Strong Results

On March 13, 2026, First Bancorp announced that its board of directors had declared a cash dividend of $0.24 per share on its common stock, payable on April 27, 2026 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2026. Chief executive Richard Moore highlighted strong fourth-quarter performance, citing solid capital and liquidity, stable credit quality, and growth in adjusted net income and earnings per share as support for the higher dividend and the company’s ongoing capital return strategy.

The most recent analyst rating on (FBNC) stock is a Buy with a $68.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on First Bancorp stock, see the FBNC Stock Forecast page.

First Bancorp boosts dividend and announces board transition

On January 27, 2026, First Bancorp announced that its board of directors approved a cash dividend of $0.24 per share on its common stock, payable on April 24, 2026 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2026, representing an increase from the prior $0.23 dividend and signaling continued capital return to investors. On the same date, the company reported the immediate retirement of long-serving director and former board chair Mary Clara Capel, whose tenure since 2005 and the Capel family’s nearly 70-year association with the bank have played a significant role in First Bancorp’s governance, growth, and community banking franchise, marking a notable leadership transition for the institution and its stakeholders.

The most recent analyst rating on (FBNC) stock is a Buy with a $65.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on First Bancorp stock, see the FBNC Stock Forecast page.