Regional banking company KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q3 2026, with sales up 7.9% year on year to $2.05 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.51 per share was 10.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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KeyCorp (KEY) Q3 2026 Highlights:
- Net Interest Income: $1.3 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.3 billion (9% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Net Interest Margin: 3% vs analyst estimates of 3% (2 basis point miss)
- Revenue: $2.05 billion vs analyst estimates of $2.05 billion (7.9% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Efficiency Ratio: 60.6% vs analyst estimates of 60.5% (9.4 basis point miss)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.51 vs analyst estimates of $0.46 (10.4% beat)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $12.35 vs analyst estimates of $13.45 (7.4% year-on-year decline, 8.2% miss)
- Market Capitalization: $21.26 billion
Company Overview
Tracing its roots back to 1849 during the California Gold Rush era, KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) operates KeyBank, a full-service regional bank providing retail and commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services across 15 states.
Sales Growth
From lending activities to service fees, most banks build their revenue model around two income sources. Interest rate spreads between loans and deposits create the first stream, with the second coming from charges on everything from basic bank accounts to complex investment banking transactions. Unfortunately, KeyCorp’s 2.1% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was sluggish. This fell short of our benchmarks and is a tough starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. KeyCorp’s annualized revenue growth of 13.3% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers because they were impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, KeyCorp grew its revenue by 7.9% year on year, and its $2.05 billion of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.
Net interest income made up 60.8% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning lending operations are KeyCorp’s largest source of revenue.
Net interest income commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas non-interest income is often seen as lower-quality revenue that lacks the same dependable characteristics.
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Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Banks are balance sheet-driven businesses because they generate earnings primarily through borrowing and lending. They’re also valued based on their balance sheet strength and ability to compound book value (another name for shareholders’ equity) over time.
This is why we consider tangible book value per share (TBVPS) the most important metric to track for banks. TBVPS represents the real, liquid net worth per share of a bank, excluding intangible assets that have debatable value upon liquidation. EPS can become murky due to acquisition impacts or accounting flexibility around loan provisions, and TBVPS resists financial engineering manipulation.
KeyCorp’s TBVPS declined at a 2.1% annual clip over the last five years. However, TBVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 2.9% annually over the last two years from $11.67 to $12.35 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for KeyCorp’s TBVPS to grow by 16.3% to $14.36, solid growth rate.
Key Takeaways from KeyCorp’s Q3 Results
It was good to see KeyCorp beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its tangible book value per share missed. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock traded up 1.4% to $20.20 immediately after reporting.
Big picture, is KeyCorp a buy here and now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).