Investar (ISTR): An Excellent Option for Trend Investors – Here's Why
Short-term Investing Strategy: The article emphasizes the importance of identifying sustainable trends in short-term investing, highlighting that factors like strong fundamentals and positive earnings revisions are crucial for maintaining momentum in stock prices.
Investar Holding Corporation (ISTR): ISTR is presented as a strong candidate for trend investors, showing a 7.1% price increase over 12 weeks and currently trading at 91.5% of its 52-week high-low range, supported by a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and positive broker recommendations.
Stock-Picking Tools: The article mentions the "Recent Price Strength" screen and other Zacks Premium Screens as effective tools for identifying potential winning stocks, encouraging investors to backtest strategies using the Zacks Research Wizard.
AI Investment Opportunities: It discusses the upcoming wave of AI investments, suggesting that while the first wave of AI stocks may stabilize, new companies are poised for significant growth, with Zacks highlighting four under-the-radar firms as potential future stars.
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- Earnings Performance: Investar achieved a non-GAAP EPS of $0.58 and revenue of $23.47 million in Q4 2025, reflecting the company's stable profitability in the market, which is expected to boost investor confidence.
- Cost of Funds Decline: As of December 31, 2025, the overall cost of funds decreased by 13 basis points to 2.98%, with deposit costs also falling to 2.91%, which will help enhance the company's net interest margin and improve profitability.
- Loan Growth: Total loans increased by $25.5 million, or 1.2%, reaching $2.18 billion, with the business lending portfolio growing by $31.8 million, indicating the company's active expansion in the commercial lending market, which is expected to drive future revenue growth.
- Stock Buyback Program: Investar repurchased 28,470 shares of common stock at an average price of $23.94 per share during Q4 2025, demonstrating the company's confidence in its stock value while creating additional value for shareholders.
- Acquisition Completed: Investar Holding has finalized its acquisition of Wichita Falls Bancshares, effective January 1, marking a significant step in the company's business expansion strategy.
- Transaction Details: The acquisition involves $7.2 million in cash and 3,955,334 shares of common stock, resulting in an aggregate transaction value of approximately $112.9 million, based on the closing stock price of $26.72 per share on December 31, indicating the company's commitment to the target asset.
- Board Changes: Following the acquisition, former directors David Flack and James Dunkerley from Wichita Falls and FNB were appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company and the Bank, enhancing the governance structure and industry expertise.
- Strategic Implications: This acquisition not only increases Investar's market share but also strengthens its competitive position in the financial services industry by integrating resources and expertise, which is expected to drive future growth.
- Valuation Potential: Eagle Bancorp is currently trading at $21.42, significantly below its fair value of $31.99, indicating a potential upside of 33%, and despite a net loss of $67.51 million in Q3 2025, its strong fundamentals continue to attract investor interest.
- Revenue Growth Outlook: The company is projected to achieve an annual revenue growth rate of 42.3% over the next three years, significantly outpacing the broader U.S. market's growth rate of 10.5%, which will aid in restoring profitability in a competitive banking landscape.
- Bad Debt Risk: Although facing a high bad loans ratio of 8.8% that could impact future profitability, the robust revenue growth and earnings outlook still provide confidence to investors, indicating the company is actively addressing challenges.
- Market Positioning: As a bank holding company with a market cap of $640.83 million, Eagle Bancorp focuses on commercial and consumer banking services in the U.S., and it is expected to enhance its competitive edge through operational optimization and improved service quality.
Short-term Investing Strategy: The article emphasizes the importance of identifying sustainable trends in short-term investing, highlighting that factors like strong fundamentals and positive earnings revisions are crucial for maintaining momentum in stock prices.
Investar Holding Corporation (ISTR): ISTR is presented as a strong candidate for trend investors, showing a 7.1% price increase over 12 weeks and currently trading at 91.5% of its 52-week high-low range, supported by a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and positive broker recommendations.
Stock-Picking Tools: The article mentions the "Recent Price Strength" screen and other Zacks Premium Screens as effective tools for identifying potential winning stocks, encouraging investors to backtest strategies using the Zacks Research Wizard.
AI Investment Opportunities: It discusses the upcoming wave of AI investments, suggesting that while the first wave of AI stocks may stabilize, new companies are poised for significant growth, with Zacks highlighting four under-the-radar firms as potential future stars.
Trend Investing Insights: Successful short-term investing relies on timing entries into trends and confirming the sustainability of those trends through sound fundamentals and positive earnings estimates.
Investar Holding Corporation (ISTR): ISTR has shown a solid price increase of 8% over 12 weeks and is trading at 81.2% of its 52-week high-low range, indicating potential for further gains, supported by a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Broker Recommendations: The stock has an Average Broker Recommendation of #1, reflecting strong optimism from analysts regarding its near-term price performance.
Stock-Picking Strategies: Investors can utilize various Zacks Premium Screens and the Research Wizard tool to identify stocks with strong potential, including several handpicked recommendations expected to yield significant returns.

Earnings Performance: Investar reported a Q3 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.54, exceeding expectations by $0.08.
Revenue Growth: The company achieved a revenue of $24.14 million, reflecting a 12.8% year-over-year increase and surpassing estimates by $1.64 million.
Net Interest Margin Improvement: The net interest margin improved by 13 basis points to 3.16% for the quarter ending September 30, 2025, compared to 3.03% for the previous quarter.
Additional Information: The press release includes links to Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating, historical earnings data, and a dividend scorecard for Investar.










