Live Oak Bancshares topped Wall Street expectations in the second quarter, fueled by strong loan production and deposit growth, the Wilmington-based lender announced Wednesday.

Live Oak exceeded analysts' consensus revenue estimate by about $3.7 million and beat earnings-per-share expectations by 10 cents, according to Zacks Equity Research. 

The company also topped analysts' expectations in the first quarter.

According to the company's earnings report released Wednesday, Q2 revenue amounted to $156.15 million and earnings per share was $0.74. Total revenue increased 7.3% from the first quarter.

“With $1.5 billion of loan originations, record Live Oak Express small dollar originations and strong checking balance growth, Live Oak layered another strong quarter of sustainable momentum across our core business,” said Live Oak Chairman and CEO Chip Mahan in a statement.

Total loan and lease production represented a 13.2% increase year over year. 

Deposits, meanwhile, grew by $712.5 million as of June 30, 2026, compared to March 31, 2026. Total deposits were $16 billion as of June 30.

“Our shareholders are seeing our path to success taking shape,” Mahan said. 

“I feel great about it,” said BJ Losch, president of Live Oak Bank, when asked specifically about loan origination in an earnings call Thursday morning. “I'm continuing to be pleasantly surprised and impressed with our lenders and our people. They constantly find ways to find new referral sources, to network across existing customers, to get more production, to build partnerships, and so activity remains very, very high.” 

Two years ago, “pipelines were half of where they are today,” Losch said. “Half.”

Other second-quarter highlights included:

• Net interest income grew 5.0% from the previous quarter and 14.8% from a year ago. Net interest margin also improved, rising to 3.33% during the second quarter.
• At the same time, noninterest expenses declined slightly, helping drive strong growth in pre-provision net revenue, which rose 19.0% quarter over quarter and 31.5% year over year.
• The provision for credit losses was $25.8 million in the second quarter, up $5.7 million from the prior quarter and $2.5 million from the same quarter last year.

Losch said he anticipates business such as future loan origination to continue to be strong.

He said, “We can see three to six months out in our pipeline in terms of what's going to ultimately turn into production, and we feel really, really good about that."