Review of EQB Inc.

OCT 23, 2025 - The company’s recent operating results have been quite weak, driven by the company’s high exposure to the housing market in its loan book, weighing on credit performance and interest income. The company also recently went through a significant change in leadership as EQB found a new CEO and CFO. EQB is an above-average operator in the banking industry. The company has solid operating performance over the years, with a decent track record of growing book value per share and dividend by double digits. The near-term weakness in earnings could be just a temporary hit, and given the company’s solid capital position and operating playbook, EQB may eventually recover. That said, to be conservative, we are downgrading our rating by one notch to “B.”