SLM Corp (SLM, Financial) released its third-quarter 2023 financial results on October 25, 2023. The company reported a GAAP net income attributable to common stock of $25 million, or $0.11 per diluted share. This was primarily due to $1 billion in private education loan sales in the year-ago period. Despite this, the company saw a 4% increase in private education loan originations from the same quarter last year, reaching $2.5 billion.
Performance Highlights
SLM Corp (SLM, Financial) reported a GAAP net income of $29 million, a decrease of 61% primarily due to the private education loan sales in the year-ago period. The company's net interest income was $385 million, up 4%, and the net interest margin was 5.43%, up 16 basis points. Private education loan originations amounted to $2.5 billion, up 4% from the previous year. The average private education loans outstanding, net, was $20.6 billion, up 3%.
Loan Performance and Provisions
The company's private education loan provisions for credit losses, including amounts for unfunded commitments, was $197 million, compared with a provision of $208 million in the year-ago period. Private education loans held-for-investment in forbearance were 1.36% of private education loans held-for-investment in repayment and forbearance, unchanged from the year-ago period. Private education loans held-for-investment delinquencies as a percentage of private education loans held-for-investment in repayment were 3.65%, down from 3.74%. Private education loans held-for-investment net charge-offs as a percentage of average private education loans held-for-investment in repayment (annualized) were 2.53%, down from 2.67%.
Capital Allocation and Balance Sheet
SLM Corp (SLM, Financial) did not repurchase any shares of common stock under share repurchase programs in the third quarter of 2023, compared to 1 million shares repurchased in the year-ago period. The company paid a third-quarter common stock dividend of $0.11 per share, unchanged from the third quarter of 2022.
Jonathan Witter, CEO of Sallie Mae, commented on the results, stating,
We delivered strong results in the third quarter driven by another successful peak season and solid credit performance. We are well-positioned to continue to strengthen and grow our core business and maximize the value of our brand. We also continue to focus on operational execution and a disciplined capital management strategy."
Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from SLM Corp for further details.