UPDATE: Large Bks Seen Outperforming Regionals
06 October 2009 - 12:38AM
Dow Jones News
Goldman Sachs raised its rating on large banks to attractive
Monday morning, drawing favorable comparisons with regional banks
and saying stock prices still don't reflect the large banks'
earnings power.
Improved earnings, stronger balance sheets and bigger assets
following a year's worth of acquisitions at several large banks
have leavened some analysts' views of the sector. In particular,
Goldman's own price targets and earnings estimates have been hiked
by analysts at several other firms in recent weeks.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), which faces questions over who will
succeed Ken Lewis as chief executive, is also drawing more
favorable opinion after beating earnings estimates for two
quarters.
Goldman singled out Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Capital One
Financial (COF) for upgrades Monday, calling Wells Fargo "the big
winner" in tangible assets and predicting Capital One will benefit
from stronger consumer spending once unemployment growth slows.
Shares in some financial stocks rose Monday morning after the
upgrades. Wells Fargo rose 3.73% in recent premarket trade to
$27.26, while Capital One rose 4.04% to $34.53.
Thanks to acquisitions like Wells Fargo's of Wachovia Corp.,
tangible assets per share have risen 29% at large banks since the
second quarter of 2007, compared to a 29% drop at regionals,
Goldman said.
Wells Fargo's tangible assets were 70% higher in the second
quarter of 2009 compared to 2007, the firm noted, predicting those
assets will fuel earnings.
Normalized earnings are now set to increase thanks in part to
those deals, Goldman said, while the same measure for regionals
banks has fallen on average.
"We believe the gap between sustainable earnings per share and
current share prices is too wide," analysts led by Richard Ramsden
wrote.
Goldman already had conviction buy ratings on J.P. Morgan Chase
(JPM) and Bank of America (BAC).
-By Brendan Conway, Dow Jones Newswires; (212) 416-2670;
brendan.conway@dowjones.com