FBSI Quietly Posts a Solid Quarter

FBSI — First Bancshares, Inc. — enters May on the back of its strongest quarterly result in recent memory, yet the stock dipped 2.2% on the week to close at $31.00.

The earnings story is the most interesting angle here. Q1 2026 net interest income rose to $6.68 million from $5.66 million a year ago — an 18% gain. Net income climbed to $2.12 million, up from $1.69 million. Basic EPS from continuing operations printed at $0.88, compared to $0.71 in Q1 2025. That is a clean, broad-based improvement across the income statement. The stock's modest slide in the wake of those numbers suggests the market either anticipated the beat or is weighing macro headwinds in the regional banking space more broadly.

Short interest is not a story worth telling here. Reported short interest is effectively zero — FINRA's most recent bi-monthly settlement data (April 15) shows just 119 shares short, with 1.8 days to cover. The lending market confirms this: borrow availability is wide open and the borrow cost last recorded was below 0.5%. There is no short-side pressure on this name.

The ORTEX short score of 25.6 (as of early March) reinforces that picture. It drifted lower from the mid-30s at the end of February — meaning bearish positioning has eased, not built. The dividend score of 17 out of 100 flags that income-seeking investors have not been rewarded recently; the last confirmed dividend on record was a $0.30 cash distribution announced in early 2022, and the history since then is sparse. That gap may matter to some holders.

Analyst data available in the feed is too dated to cite with confidence, and fundamentals coverage for this OTC-traded micro-cap is thin. The picture that emerges from the data is of a lightly followed community bank that just reported genuine earnings growth but trades at limited liquidity. The next catalyst on the calendar is Q2 results, expected around July 10. Between now and then, the question for holders is whether the NII momentum from Q1 — driven by a widening margin — holds as the rate environment shifts.