** Community lender RBB Bancorp's RBB.O shares jump 7.6% to $18.94 premarket

** Late Monday, RBB beat Wall Street profit expectations for the second straight quarter

** Non-performing assets declined 11% in Q3 from a year earlier, while classified and criticized loans shrank 30.8%

** "Asset quality was finally, finally, finally a story of near-universal improvement," brokerage Hovde Group says

** Adds that shares will "outperform, perhaps materially", given broad-based improvement in problem asset levels

** All five brokerages covering the stock rate "hold"; median PT $20 - data compiled by LSEG

** As of last close, RBB stock down 14.1% YTD

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))