Our Stock of the Week is Primis Financial Corp. (FRST). Primis Financial is the bank holding company for Primis Bank, a Virginia state-chartered community bank serving individuals and small to mid-sized businesses through roughly 24 full-service branches across Virginia and Maryland. While not exactly a hot, momentum-type play, FRST is a compelling turnaround story with an interesting chart.
After years of losses driven largely by a problematic third-party consumer loan portfolio, bank management made a series of decisive moves in late 2024 and through 2025 to clean up the balance sheet and reposition the business for sustainable profitability. In Q4 2024, the company swallowed the proverbial frog and moved the troubled consumer book to held-for-sale, selling its Life Premium Finance division and launching a mortgage warehouse lending business that has since grown to over $460 million in total loans by the end of Q1 2026. Full-year 2025 net income came in at $61 million ($2.49 per diluted share) versus a loss the prior year, with Q4 2025 alone generating $1.20 per diluted share. Meanwhile, a sale-leaseback of 18 branch properties added approximately $58 million in proceeds, with tangible book value per share growing 18% year-over-year to $13.47. The company also authorized a share repurchase program in December 2025 and most recently reported Q1 2026 operating EPS of $0.33, with management expressing optimism about the trajectory of profitability through 2026.
Technically, FRST saw a solid upside move towards long-term lateral resistance into the end of 2025. After digesting those gains and finding support in the 100-day moving average, the stock’s pushed back towards January highs and has since been flagging with support along the 20-day moving average, forming a near-term cup and handle in the process. On Friday the stock pushed back toward resistance on heavy volume, and a move out of its pattern could attract attention. As always, we will not chase any early strength on Monday morning, but will look to aggressively trade the stock as the chart develops.
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This post is for educational purposes only! This is not advice or a recommendation. We do not give investment advice. Do not act on this post. Do not buy, sell, or trade the stocks mentioned herein. We WILL actively trade this stock differently than discussed herein. We will sell into strength and buy or sell at any time for any reason. We will actively trade into any unusual activity. At the time of this post, principals, employees, and affiliates of Shark Investing, Inc. and/or principals, clients, employees, and affiliates of Hammerhead Financial Strategies, LLC, directly or indirectly, controlled investment and/or trading accounts containing no positions in FRST at the time this was published. To accommodate the objectives of these investing and/or trading accounts, the trading in these shares will be contrary to and/or inconsistent with the information contained in this posting.
