Stung this year by significant losses in its mortgage portfolio, OceanFirst Financial Corp. of Toms River, N.J., showed signs of recovery in the third quarter.
The $1.9 billion-asset company said Thursday that it earnings fell 31% from a year earlier, to nearly $4.6 million — a significant improvement over the $225,000 it earned in the second quarter and the $5.4 million it lost in the first.
The loss could be traced to high levels of defaults on subprime loans made by its Valhalla, N.Y., mortgage subsidiary, Columbia Home Loans. OceanFirst closed the unit in the third quarter but has retained its servicing portfolio.
"The company's strengthening profitability over the past three months demonstrates the resilience of our core banking operations after dealing with and accounting for the Columbia subprime losses," John. R. Garbarino, OceanFirst's chief executive officer, said Thursday in a press release.
By late Thursday OceanFirst's shares had risen 1.2% from Wednesday's close, to $16.69.
