Stifel Financial Corporation

Good day and welcome to the Stiefel Financial Q2 26 financial results conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Joel Jeffery, head of investor relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to Stiefel second quarter 2026 earnings call. On behalf of Stiefel Financial Corp, I will begin the call with the following information and disclaimers. This call is being recorded. During today's presentation, we will refer to our earnings release and financial supplement, copies of which are available at stifel.com. Today's presentation may include forward-looking statements that are subject to the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Stifel Financial Corp. does not undertake to update the forward-looking statements in this discussion. Please refer to our notices regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures that appear in exemptions. I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ron Kruszewski.

Thanks, Joel. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We entered 2026 with a clear plan. At the beginning of the year, we said we would grow revenue, increase our loan book by up to $4 billion, increase treasury deposits, improve operating leverage, and deploy our substantial excess capital where it would earn the best risk-adjusted returns. Six months into the year, we're doing what we said we would do. Our second quarter and first half results reflect the strength of our business and the momentum we're seeing across the firm. Second quarter net revenue of 1.45 billion increased 13% from a year ago, while non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.42 increased 25%. Both represented the second highest second quarter results in our history following our strongest first quarter ever. The result was our strongest first half in Steeples history. generating record net revenue of $2.9 billion, 15% above our previous record, and record earnings per share of $2.87, up 28% from our prior record. Return on tangible common equity was approximately 24% for both the quarter and the first half of the year, while tangible book value per share increased 15% over the prior year. Our top line growth was driven by another quarter of record global wealth management revenue and continued growth in net interest income as we increased our loan book by $2.6 billion during the quarter, keeping us well on pace to achieve our full year guidance of up to $4 billion of balance sheet growth. Just as importantly, our strategy of putting advisors first continues to differentiate Stifel. Advisor recruiting remains as competitive as I've ever seen it, Client engagement remains strong. And earlier this month, Steeple was ranked number one in employee advisor satisfaction by J.D. Power for the fourth consecutive year.