US earnings calls, October 20-21, 2026: two lenders expect rate increases to help

Bank OZK expects its loan growth to speed up after fiscal year 2026

• The chief executive said full-year fiscal year 2026 loan growth guidance is 3%-5%. That is about 1 percentage point below the guidance at the start of the year, because some repayments may occur this year rather than next year.
• The chief executive said fiscal year 2027 loan growth guidance is 10%-12%, raised by about 1 percentage point.
• The chief executive said loan growth is expected to accelerate further in fiscal year 2028.

Two lenders expect interest rate increases to help their earnings

• Bank OZK's chief financial officer said one, two or three rate increases of 25, 50, 75 or 100 basis points over the next five quarters should be somewhat helpful to net interest income (NII), what a bank earns on loans and investments minus what it pays for funds, and to net interest margin. A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point.
• Pathward Financial's chief financial officer said the company expects about $2 million of pre-tax benefit for the full year from a 25-basis-point rate increase.
• Pathward's earnings per share (EPS) guidance assumes no additional rate changes during the year and an effective tax rate of 18%-22%. The chief financial officer said Pathward expects credit to normalize in 2027 as it works down non-performing loans.

WD-40 Company and Ategrity reported growth

• WD-40 Company's chief financial officer said fiscal year 2026 reported net sales increased 11% to $688 million, near the high end of guidance. The chief financial officer said non-GAAP diluted EPS increased 6% to $6.18. Non-GAAP means the figure is not calculated under generally accepted accounting principles, the standard US accounting rules.
• WD-40 Company said its fiscal year 2026 gross margin was 55.3% and that it targets a fiscal year 2027 gross margin of 54%-55.5%.
• Ategrity's chief financial officer said gross written premiums increased 14.7% in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026. The chief executive said submissions grew 30% in that quarter.
• Ategrity's chief executive said it expects its combined ratio, an insurer's claims and costs as a share of premiums, to be below 87% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026.