FRME
First Merchants Corporation
FRME's fundamentals are weak and it looks expensive: trading at 13x earnings, above its usual 11x. Analysts expect earnings growth.
FRME Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
FRME's revenue and profitability are currently healthy. Free cash flow and net leverage aren't meaningful measures for financial services companies like FRME.
FRME PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 8.8x | $28.35 | -31% |
| Forward | 9.7x | $40.94 | — |
| Fair | 11x | $35.18 | -14% |
| Expensive | 13x | $41.89 | +2.3% |
| Current | 13x | $40.94 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
FRME's PE is in its expensive range at 13x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 9.7x next year's earnings, in its fair range.
FRME Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Growth | |
| Growth | |
| Stable | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for FRME, with profitability holding steady.
FRME Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $4.21 | +31% |
| Q3 2026 | $3.22 | -19% |
| Q2 2026 | $3.11 | -19% |
| Q1 2026 | $3.39 | -4.5% |
| Q4 2025 | $3.88 | +14% |
| Q3 2025 | $3.99 | +32% |
| Q2 2025 | $3.85 | +23% |
| Q1 2025 | $3.55 | +2.6% |
| Q4 2024 | $3.41 | -8.6% |
FRME's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $3.22 over the past year, against $4.36 in mid-2023.
FRME Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $199.1M | +20% |
| Q2 2026 | $196.1M | +19% |
| Q1 2026 | $157.1M | -2% |
| Q4 2025 | $172.2M | -2.8% |
| Q3 2025 | $166.1M | +6.5% |
| Q2 2025 | $164.3M | +2.8% |
| Q1 2025 | $160.3M | +4.3% |
| Q4 2024 | $177.1M | +13% |
FRME's revenue has picked up after two years of holding roughly level: $199M last quarter, up 20% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 40% | +0.6 points |
| Q2 2026 | 24% | -15 points |
| Q1 2026 | 17% | -22 points |
| Q4 2025 | 38% | -5.2 points |
| Q3 2025 | 39% | +3.2 points |
| Q2 2025 | 40% | +12 points |
| Q1 2025 | 39% | +3.8 points |
| Q4 2024 | 43% | +13 points |
FRME's operating margin was 40% last quarter, up 0.6 points from the same quarter a year ago.
FRME Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $78.4M | -10% |
| Q2 2026 | $88M | +64% |
| Q1 2026 | $58.6M | -5% |
| Q4 2025 | $80.7M | +20% |
| Q3 2025 | $87.6M | +14% |
| Q2 2025 | $53.7M | -15% |
| Q1 2025 | $61.7M | +4.8% |
| Q4 2024 | $67.5M | -22% |
FRME's free cash flow was $306M over the past year, up 13% from the year before. Free cash flow isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like FRME.
FRME Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.3% | -163K shares |
| 1 year | +8.6% | +5M shares |
| 3 years | +4.9% | +2.9M shares |
| 5 years | +16% | +8.5M shares |
| Available history | +12% | +6.9M shares |
FRME has 62M diluted shares, up 8.6% from a year ago, despite $61M in buybacks over the past year.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $12M |
| Q2 2026 | $13.4M |
| Q1 2026 | $24.9M |
| Q4 2025 | $10.4M |
| Q3 2025 | $6.5M |
| Q2 2025 | $22.1M |
| Q1 2025 | $7.9M |
| Q4 2024 | $6.2M |
FRME spent $61M buying back its own shares over the past year, up 42% from the year before.
FRME Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 4.0x | Elevated |
| Q2 2026 | 6.0x | High |
| Q1 2026 | 5.1x | High |
| Q4 2025 | 2.7x | Moderate |
| Q3 2025 | 2.5x | Moderate |
| Q2 2025 | 3.0x | Moderate |
| Q1 2025 | 3.5x | Elevated |
| Q4 2024 | 3.2x | Elevated |
FRME's net debt is about 4.0 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), up from 2.5 years a year ago. Net leverage isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like FRME.
FRME Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 50.0 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 42.5 | Neutral |
FRME's weekly RSI is 50 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 43 (neutral).
FRME PE vs Financial Services Sector
| Metric | FRME | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 13x | 13x | 2.4% below |
| PE % | 79 | 63 | 16 pts above |
FRME is trading at 13x earnings, in line with the Financial Services sector's median of 13x.
FRME Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $40.3 | 1.6% above |
| 20 week MA | $41.7 | 1.8% below |
| 50 week MA | $40.4 | 1.3% above |
| 100 week MA | $39.7 | 3.2% above |
| 200 week MA | $36.9 | 11% above |
FRME's trend is mixed: it's above four of its five weekly moving averages, and 11% above its 200-week average.
FRME Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $41.3 | $36.8 | -11% |
| 2021 | $36.8 | $41.2 | +12% |
| 2022 | $41.2 | $40.5 | -1.6% |
| 2023 | $40.5 | $37.1 | -8.5% |
| 2024 | $37.1 | $40.3 | +8.5% |
| 2025 | $40.3 | $38.3 | -4.9% |
| 2026 YTD | $38.3 | $40.9 | +7% |
FRME has finished lower in four of the last six years. It's up 7% so far in 2026.