Regional banking company Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) fell short of the market’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, but sales rose 6.1% year on year to $849 million. Its GAAP profit of $1.56 per share was 9.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Zions Bancorporation (ZION) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Interest Income: $662 million vs analyst estimates of $675.6 million (6.1% year-on-year growth, 2% miss)
- Net Interest Margin: 3.3% vs analyst estimates of 3.3% (3.6 basis point miss)
- Revenue: $849 million vs analyst estimates of $861.1 million (6.1% year-on-year growth, 1.4% miss)
- Efficiency Ratio: 65% vs analyst estimates of 64.5% (53.8 basis point miss)
- EPS (GAAP): $1.56 vs analyst estimates of $1.43 (9.4% beat)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $41.75 vs analyst estimates of $42.21 (19.5% year-on-year growth, 1.1% miss)
- Market Capitalization: $9.23 billion
Company Overview
Founded in 1873 during Utah's pioneer era and named after Mount Zion in the Bible, Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) operates seven regional banks across the Western United States, providing commercial, retail, and wealth management services to over a million customers.
Sales Growth
In general, banks make money from two primary sources. The first is net interest income, which is interest earned on loans, mortgages, and investments in securities minus interest paid out on deposits. The second source is non-interest income, which can come from bank account, credit card, wealth management, investing banking, and trading fees. Regrettably, Zions Bancorporation’s revenue grew at a sluggish 4.1% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This was below our standard for the banking sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Zions Bancorporation’s annualized revenue growth of 6% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, which is encouraging. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, Zions Bancorporation’s revenue grew by 6.1% year on year to $849 million, missing Wall Street’s estimates.
Net interest income made up 89.9% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning Zions Bancorporation barely relies on non-interest income to drive its overall growth.
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.Net interest income commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas non-interest income is often seen as lower-quality revenue that lacks the same dependable characteristics.
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Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Banks are balance sheet-driven businesses because they generate earnings primarily through borrowing and lending. They’re also valued based on their balance sheet strength and ability to compound book value (another name for shareholders’ equity) over time.
When analyzing banks, tangible book value per share (TBVPS) takes precedence over many other metrics. This measure isolates genuine per-share value by removing intangible assets of debatable liquidation worth. On the other hand, EPS is often distorted by mergers and flexible loan loss accounting. TBVPS provides clearer performance insights.
Zions Bancorporation’s TBVPS grew at a sluggish 1.5% annual clip over the last five years. However, TBVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 19.3% annually over the last two years from $29.34 to $41.75 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Zions Bancorporation’s TBVPS to grow by 13.1% to $47.22, decent growth rate.
Key Takeaways from Zions Bancorporation’s Q1 Results
It was good to see Zions Bancorporation beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its net interest income missed and its revenue fell slightly short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock traded down 1.6% to $62.01 immediately after reporting.
Zions Bancorporation may have had a tough quarter, but does that actually create an opportunity to invest right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
