Cape Bancorp Inc. in Cape May Court House, N.J., swung to a $1.6 million loss in the fourth quarter after taking $1 million writedown on foreclosed properties and an additional $1.1 million writedown on its investment in pooled trust-preferred securities that have lost much of their value.
The $1.1 billion-asset company earned $862,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
For the full year, however, Cape said that earnings jumped more than doubled, to $8.4 million, despite a more than 150% increase in its provision for loan losses. The company attributed the improvement largely to the reversal of $12.2 million of a deferred tax valuation allowance - a sign that the company's earnings prospects are brightening.
Cape's shares closed at $9 Friday, up 1.7% from Thursday's closing price.