First South Bancorp (fka FSBS)

[norweger1979]

love the market!

somebody wants out & sells.... I gladly bought a nice starter position here!

good luck!

[SaltyMutt]

The next news we hear about FSBS will probably come out the 2nd or 3rd week in October, their 3rd quarter report. Although a bit disappointed with their last quarterly, I was expecting a profit, I was still glad to see that First South's financial condition continues to improve. Assuming they keep on the path they now walk, I think profit will be shown this year.

[1center]

I think a little patience is required with this one but yes some good news would send FSBS to .60 in a hurry. Recently they've unloaded some of there properties/nonperforming assets and the bank is improving there bottom line. In the first 6 months 2012 was a 3.7 million loss compared to a loss of only 400k the first 6 months 2013. I'm hoping at this rate we see a profit in the coming Q's at least by FY ending 2013. The banks capitial position should hopfully start to improve as well.

[LBoogie]

We also need more news.

[LBoogie]

We need more followers!!!!

[LBoogie]

Yea Amazon, is coming to town!!! This bank should be booming in no time. Good thing were already in, therefore when the shares hit $100 plus, we"ll be in the money!!!!

[1center]

Amazon will boost Spartanburg economy l had heard on the news they were beginning to hire.
http://sccommerce.com/news/press-releases/amazon-announces-new-facility-spartanburg-county-south-carolina

[radar72]

Yes, I agree! There is no reason for this one to be just sitting here at this price. This is an operating bank with 5 locations that has managed to survive this far. The stock moves fast on low volume. Looking forward to something happening...

[LBoogie]

We need to get this puppy moving!!!

This one seems easy to increase share volume.

[1center]

First South Bank FFIEC Call/TFR Report 6/30/2013

http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/confirmation_outside.asp?inCert1=34222


https://cdr.ffiec.gov/Public/ViewFacsimileDirect.aspx?ds=call&idType=fdiccert&id=34222&date=06302013

https://cdr.ffiec.gov/public/ViewFacsimileDirect.aspx?ds=ubpr&reptype=1&idType=fdiccert&id=34222

[56Chevy]

Currently no position.

Its no secret the bank needs capital asap. There are a couple of ways to do that but I' m a big fan of opening up a rights offering to its shareholders.

[radar72]

That's good. It will be interesting to see where things stand halfway through 2013. Still holding mine.

[1center]

They seem to be making progess. Here's this.

From page 5 2012 annual report hard copy.

Dear Valued Shareholder:
Your company ended 2012 with a loss of $5.1 million, which was significantly below 2011 loss of $16.1 million. A primary driver of the Bank’s losses continues to be the expenses associated with disposing of collateral property and the depressed real estate values in the markets where we seek to sell this collateral property. The Bank moved $19.075 million or 28 percent of our nonperforming assets off our books. The good news is we believe we are continuing to make significant progress in resolving our problem assets and we see an end in sight. The not so good news is the Bank’s capital position is being significantly stressed as we dispose of these problem assets.
During the past five years the economy has not improved at a rate commensurate with First South Bank issues and as such has left our Bank weak. Increasingly significant government intervention has contributed to the difficult challenges the Bank faces. The Board of Directors and Senior Staff are working daily to resolve our asset issues to return the Bank to profitability.
It is essential to maintain a sufficient level of capital to operate the Bank. To ensure minimum levels of capital are met, the Board of Directors is exploring all options and opportunities to insure the survival of First South Bank.
These are very difficult times. We have helplessly watched as clients and friends of the Bank have lost everything, trying to keep loans current. Their loss, unfortunately, becomes our loss. We are not taking this lightly and pledge our continued commitment to you, our shareholders.
Sincerely,
Roger A. F. Habisreutinger, Chairman of the Board
Barry L. Slider, Chief Executive Officer, Vice Chairman of the Board

From:joeysco post #76

http://www.firstsouthbancorp.com/default.aspx?pageID=72

[romang]

any thoughts on this? do you have a position? thanks!

[56Chevy]

Well anyway it's got to be a good thing going forward there selling these properties.

Yes it is. Selling non-performing assets [NPA's] even at a loss has been the name of the game for banks the past 5 years. They can't have dead weight on the balance sheets - too much of that will get your bank seized and closed down.

Most of these NPA assets are notes on residential properties that were foreclosed on...and some are commercial properties. Sometimes the banks are able to bundle several properties together and sell them to a large investors like hedge funds or private equity groups...and sometimes a property is sold individually. NPA's are usually sold at a steep discount.

In a nutshell the goal for banks is to liquidate the bad loans...and replace them with new loans that have financially more stable borrowers. It's a process that takes time and the banks that do it the quickest have the best chance of surviving long term.

[1center]

Well anyway it's got to be a good thing going forward there selling these properties.

[1center]

Ok. I've heard the only dumb question is one not asked. So how will fund from sold property's be recorded on the financial report. Will it be recorded as revenues? Would it lower their non performing assets
Which would in turn increase the capital ratio? I was also wondering if the property's were sold for cash, or did the bank provide financing to a creditable buyer?
I guess you can tell I'm new to bank stocks LOL.

[BigCat]

http://www.firstsouthbancorp.com/default.aspx?pageID=72

[ballstreet]

The latter part of the month, it is then.
Thank You.
Looking forward to some great numbers. (fingers crossed)

[radar72]

Nice. Definitely looks like there is some interest picking up here. If you check the bank's web page, you can see that they have been successfully unloading bank owned foreclosed real estate at a pretty good clip. Still holding all my shares and hoping to see improving results.

[SaltyMutt]

Hi ballstreet. Great to see you here! I would love for us to be able to see some numbers next week but that will probaly happen the latter part of the month.

[ballstreet]

Thank you

[1center]

By looking at this, Quarter ending 03/31/2013 was updated on 04/19/2013 first page at the bottom. That all the info I have
hope it helps.

https://cdr.ffiec.gov/Public/ViewFacsimileDirect.aspx?ds=call&idType=fdiccert&id=34222&date=03312013

The link above from the previous link I posted

http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/confirmation_outside.asp?inCert1=34222

FFIEC Call/TFR Report 3/31/2013 Latest Available

[ballstreet]

Hey buddy
When will that info be available?

[1center]

FSBS..0.149 I'm looking for them to turn a profit this Q as well or close to it. A big improvement over the past.

http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/confirmation_outside.asp?inCert1=34222

[SaltyMutt]

A move like that would even put a smile on the face of a grumpacious Dainty Darling Dove. She's snarling at me this morning.

[joseytheoutlawwales]

A move to $4-5 would sure put a smile on my face.

[SaltyMutt]

I kinda like that idea myself and think that FSBS just might pull it off.

[joseytheoutlawwales]

893% looks good.

But I want and 893% move from .60!!

;.)

[BigCat]

Looking Forward to the report! Could be the start of several more to come!

[SaltyMutt]

Assuming the month of June didn't go to purgatory in a pontoon, FSBS should have a positive 2nd quarter

[BigCat]

Lack of patience. Remember this did trade below penny level for a short time. Someone may have been pulling profits or it was just a bad trade... People do dumb sh*t all the time in the markets. I think someone simply lucked out on someone's foolish trade. Although I did buy some cheap shares here First South is a pretty sick little bank. Hoping they can turn things around and bring the profit on a regular basis before the FDIC comes along and says your time is up.

[SaltyMutt]

I'm not sure that was a "real" trade. Why would anyone sell that low when they could have easily gotten much higher?

FSBS

[BigCat]

Wow, someone got a nice chunk of cheapies today! They'll certainly be rooting for a successful turnaround for this bank!

[1center]

I could almost promise that any shares under .20 would be gobbled
up. It would be nice to see a more realistic bid/ask spread.

[SaltyMutt]

Somebody must have really needed some beer money real bad!

I have discovered that when you are trying to buy a sparsely traded stock that the MM's will, at times, pass you by and sell to a lower bidder. I think this is what happened here. I'm not sure about what their purpose is in doing that unless it is to try to lower the ask.

[1center]

$8.96 trade silly I know they were higher bids

[BigCat]

Holy FSBS Cliff Jumper!!!
448 shares.

[SaltyMutt]

This quarter is just about over. Assuming FSBS shows a profit, and I think they will, we just might see the pps move up a bit higher. I think .75 is at least a fair possibility.

[SaltyMutt]

I'm not sure that the MM's even bother to show bids other than their own on sparsely traded stocks. I had a bid of .06 last week that never appeared. I now have a bid of .07 for shares on another bank that hasn't shown up yet.

[1center]

Me too radar holding

[radar72]

Crazy spread here now. .02 bid and .60 ask. Looks like nobody knows where to price this one. Still holding mine....

[1center]

wweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee lol

[SaltyMutt]

Does this mean we can forget about snagging shares of FSBS at .02? lol

[radar72]

Nice! 60 cents. Next stop $30.

[SaltyMutt]

Looks like the days of the five and ten cent shares just might be a thing of the past.

FSBS

[1center]

OS is 4.2m don't know the float. The CEO
has a lot of money invested in the bank.

[radar72]

Nice. Looks like the low float may be causing this one to move up in big leaps on very little volume. Also I assume that the insiders are holding on to all of their shares. Very interesting...

[BigCat]

Holy 60K ask at .60!!!

[radar72]

Still holding my shares. Need some more volume here. Would be nice if the bank gave some current news updates on the web site and generally updated the web site.