Peoples Financial Services (PFIS) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $518.55M
• Dividend Yield: 4.97%
• Average Volume (3M): 25.89K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 8.2
• Beta (1Y): 0.79
• Revenue Growth: 39.98%
• EPS Growth: 413.87%
• Country: US
• Employees: 511
• Sector: Financial
• Sector Strength: 70
• Industry: Banks - Regional
• EPS (TTM): 1.36
• Shares Outstanding: 9,994,595
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 34,188
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 25,893
• PEG Ratio: 0.02
• Price to Book (P/B): 0.94
• Price to Sales (P/S): 1.73
• P/FCF Ratio: 8.97
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.19
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 2.18
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 3.28
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 7.66
• 1Y Price Target: $56.00
• Price Target Upside: 7.98% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 1
• EPS Forecast (FY): 6.37
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $202.15M

• Rating: 69 Neutral
• Price Target: $57.00 ▲(9.91% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/17/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/17/26

Score is driven primarily by improved 2025 profitability and cash flow (tempered by revenue volatility and rising leverage), supported by attractive valuation (low P/E and high dividend yield). Technical indicators are weaker/mixed (negative MACD and sub-50 RSI), limiting the overall score.

Positive Factors

Capital & Liquidity

Stronger capital and large available liquidity provide durable loss-absorbing capacity and funding flexibility. Higher tangible equity and $3.0B liquidity support loan growth, regulatory buffers and confidence in stressed conditions, reducing the chance of forced asset sales.

Cash Generation

Consistent operating and free cash flow at ~$54M demonstrates improved cash conversion versus prior years. Reliable cash generation supports dividend funding, organic capital build, and the ability to fund strategic initiatives without depending heavily on external financing.

Higher-yield securities mix

Repositioning into higher-yielding agency MBS and municipal bonds raises recurring portfolio income and narrows margin pressure from low-yield Treasuries. This structural tilt should sustainably increase net interest income as long as rate and duration risks remain managed.

Negative Factors

Revenue Volatility

A volatile and recently collapsing top line signals earnings sensitivity and less predictable growth. Persistent revenue swings make forecasting, capital planning and investor confidence harder to sustain over the medium term, increasing execution risk for strategic plans.

Rising Leverage

Increasing leverage to a debt-to-equity near 0.50 reduces financial flexibility and raises interest and refinancing risk. If earnings or loan performance deteriorate, higher leverage amplifies downside, pressuring capital ratios and limiting room for inorganic growth or large credit shocks.

Leadership Succession Risk

The abrupt retirement and consolidation of roles concentrates decision-making and creates short-term governance risk. Even with advisor support, succession increases execution and cultural risk during integration and strategy resets, potentially slowing operational momentum post-merger.

Peoples Financial Services Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, NOW, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides residential real estate, automobile, manufactured housing, personal, and home equity loans; and commercial real estate, working capital, construction, small business administration, and agricultural loans, as well as loans for equipment and other commercial needs, and mineral rights. In addition, the company offers investment management, IRA trustee, estate administration, living and life insurance trust, trustee under will, guardianship, custodial/IRA custodial, and corporate trust services, as well as pension and profit sharing plans. Further, it provides investment portfolio management, estate and business succession planning, annuities, insurance, retirement plan, and tax planning, as well as education funding strategies; and securities and brokerage, and investor services. Additionally, the company offers small business checking and merchant money market accounts, online and telephone banking, business credit cards, merchant line of credit, and financial checkup services; and remote deposit capture, automatic clearing house transaction, cash management, automated teller machine, point of sale transaction, safe deposit box, night depository, direct deposit, and official check services. It serves business, non-profit, governmental, municipal agency, and professional customers, as well as retail customers through 28 full-service community banking offices located in Allegheny, Bucks, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Susquehanna, and Wyoming Counties of Pennsylvania; Middlesex County of New Jersey; and Broome County of New York. The company was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

How the Company Makes Money

PFIS primarily makes money through (1) net interest income and (2) noninterest income. Net interest income is earned by collecting interest on interest-earning assets—mainly loans (commercial, real estate, and consumer) and investment securities—while paying interest on funding sources such as customer deposits and other borrowings; the difference between the yield on assets and the cost of funds (net interest margin), multiplied by the balance of earning assets, drives this revenue stream. Noninterest income is generated from fees and service charges associated with banking activities (for example, deposit account service charges and other customer-related fees) and other banking-related sources of revenue. Profitability is also affected by credit performance (through provisions for credit losses and charge-offs), the mix of loans versus securities, deposit mix (noninterest-bearing vs. interest-bearing), and overall interest-rate conditions that influence both asset yields and funding costs.

Peoples Financial Services Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Most recent fundamentals improved meaningfully: 2025 profitability rebounded (net margin ~21%, operating margin ~26%) and cash generation strengthened (operating cash flow and free cash flow both ~$54M). Offsetting this, revenue fell sharply in 2025 (about -49%) and results have been volatile across years, with leverage also rising in 2025 (debt-to-equity ~0.50).

Income Statement

Results are volatile but improved sharply in 2025. Revenue grew strongly in 2023–2024, then fell materially in 2025 (about -49%), creating a choppy top-line profile. Profitability rebounded meaningfully in 2025 with net margin improving to ~21% (vs ~4% in 2024) and operating margin rising to ~26% (vs ~4% in 2024). Earlier years (2020–2022) showed unusually strong margins that later compressed, highlighting earnings sensitivity and less consistent run-rate profitability.

Balance Sheet

Capital position looks generally solid with equity rising over time (about $340M in 2023 to ~$520M in 2025) and return on equity recovering to ~11% in 2025 after a weak 2024 (~2%). Leverage remains moderate for the period shown, though it increased in 2025 with debt-to-equity moving to ~0.50 (up from ~0.33 in 2024 and ~0.22 in 2023), which slightly raises financial risk. Total assets continued to expand, supporting scale, but the rising leverage trend bears monitoring.

Cash Flow

Cash generation strengthened in 2025 with operating cash flow of ~$54M and free cash flow also ~$54M, up substantially versus 2024 (~$31M). Cash flow quality in 2025 looks better as operating cash flow exceeded net income (coverage ~1.66) and free cash flow matched net income (1.0). However, earlier years show very low operating cash flow coverage figures despite positive net income, suggesting cash conversion has been inconsistent and can swing meaningfully year to year.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	280.95M	229.80M	164.00M	123.66M	107.75M
Gross Profit	187.12M	115.19M	100.34M	108.52M	96.58M
EBITDA	72.23M	15.70M	36.00M	49.40M	57.16M
Net Income	59.19M	8.50M	27.38M	38.09M	43.52M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	5.27B	5.09B	3.74B	3.55B	3.37B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	259.66M	323.18M	441.59M	515.57M	554.83M
Total Debt	258.40M	155.58M	75.59M	148.49M	35.71M
Total Liabilities	4.75B	4.62B	3.40B	3.24B	3.03B
Stockholders Equity	519.85M	468.95M	340.42M	315.35M	340.13M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	54.27M	31.35M	27.33M	34.53M	35.89M
Operating Cash Flow	54.27M	33.92M	33.25M	42.36M	40.77M
Investing Cash Flow	-24.44M	387.15M	-25.75M	-467.82M	-440.10M
Financing Cash Flow	103.30M	-472.58M	142.00M	183.40M	451.07M

Peoples Financial Services Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 51.86
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For PFIS, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 51.86 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 53.68, below the 50-day MA of 52.44, and above the 200-day MA of 49.27, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of -0.33 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 42.15 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 37.03 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for PFIS.

Peoples Financial Services Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
UNTY	71 Outperform	$498.12M	8.36	17.76%	1.08%	11.38%	36.10%
PFIS	69 Neutral	$518.55M	8.23	10.83%	4.97%	39.98%	413.87%
Sector *	68 Neutral	$18.00B	11.42	9.92%	3.81%	9.73%	1.22%
NRIM	67 Neutral	$498.54M	9.10	21.32%	2.31%	36.60%	92.63%
PGC	66 Neutral	$590.37M	10.05	5.85%	0.70%	9.16%	6.95%
BHB	62 Neutral	$535.75M	14.04	7.42%	3.92%	4.26%	-16.52%
NFBK	49 Neutral	$551.28M	576.05	0.11%	4.38%	6.08%	52.64%

Peoples Financial Services Corporate Events

Peoples Financial unveils March 2026 strategic investor update

Peoples Financial Services Corp. reported fourth-quarter 2025 net income of $12.0 million, or $1.19 per diluted share, with a return on average assets of 0.92%, return on average tangible common equity of 11.5%, a 3.60% net interest margin and a 59.5% efficiency ratio, as of Dec. 31, 2025. Results included a $2.2 million pre-tax loss on the sale of available-for-sale securities tied to a strategic portfolio repositioning, while solid asset quality, strong liquidity and capital metrics, and the completed July 1, 2024 merger with FNCB underscored improved scale, diversified earnings and a reinforced balance sheet.

At year-end 2025, the company reported $4.4 billion in deposits with a 1.82% total deposit cost, loans of $4.0 billion representing 76.4% of total assets and a loan-to-deposit ratio of 90.8%. Nonperforming assets were a low 0.23% of total assets, the allowance for credit losses stood at 0.96% of net loans, and tangible common equity to tangible assets rose to 8.05%, supporting a tangible book value per share of $41.64 and total available liquidity of $3.0 billion, which together highlight a strengthened capital and funding profile for stakeholders.

Management also disclosed that it expects to meet with investors during 2026 and has posted a March 2026 investor presentation on its website, outlining the company’s financial position and strategy. By making these materials available, Peoples Financial Services is seeking to enhance transparency with the market as it digests the impact of the FNCB merger and evaluates the bank’s performance trajectory and risk profile post-integration.

The most recent analyst rating on (PFIS) stock is a Hold with a $56.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Peoples Financial Services stock, see the PFIS Stock Forecast page.

Peoples Financial Services Announces President Retirement and Transition

On January 30, 2026, Peoples Financial Services Corp. announced that President Thomas P. Tulaney will retire from his roles as President of the company and as President and Director of Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, effective April 3, 2026, after more than 40 years in banking and just over a year in the president positions he assumed on January 1, 2025. The company highlighted Tulaney’s contributions to strengthening financial performance and shaping the bank’s brand, culture, and community presence, and said he is expected to remain with the organization as a Senior Advisor to support leadership transition and strategic initiatives, with CEO Gerard A. Champi anticipated to add the president title of both the holding company and the bank, signaling a consolidation of top leadership as the institution manages succession and continuity for stakeholders.

The most recent analyst rating on (PFIS) stock is a Hold with a $52.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Peoples Financial Services stock, see the PFIS Stock Forecast page.

Peoples Financial Services Repositions Securities Portfolio for Yield

On December 23, 2025, Peoples Financial Services Corp. completed a strategic repositioning of part of its investment securities portfolio by selling approximately $78.6 million of lower-yielding U.S. Treasury bonds, with a weighted average yield of 1.18% and 1.2 years of life, realizing an after-tax loss of about $1.85 million that will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company reinvested roughly $76.1 million of net proceeds into higher-yielding available-for-sale securities, including about $38.2 million in U.S. agency mortgage-backed securities and $37.9 million in discounted tax-exempt municipal bonds, with an average book yield of 4.67% and 10.5-year duration, a move expected to boost securities portfolio interest income by approximately $2.8 million over the next 12 months and recover the realized loss in around 10 months, while leaving stockholders’ equity, book value per share, and regulatory capital ratios intact and well above well-capitalized thresholds.

The most recent analyst rating on (PFIS) stock is a Hold with a $50.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Peoples Financial Services stock, see the PFIS Stock Forecast page.