$13 Price Target On Cathay General Bancorp Over At Cantor Fitzgerald (CATY)

Cantor Fitzgerald is reiterating its Hold rating and lowering its price target to $13 from $14 on shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ: CATY) after the company reported a tremendous earnings beat yesterday.

In the report, Cantor Fitzgerald notes, "Cathay General reported a 2Q:10 net loss to common of ($0.03) per share, versus consensus of ($0.22). The main reason for the "beat" was much-better-than-expected loan loss provisioning, as credit quality improved markedly.

"Our $13 target price (down from $14) is based on a peer P/E multiple (15x, down from 16x due to the 2Q:10 bank stock selloff) times our 2011 EPS estimate of $0.81."

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp are trading at $11.76, up 1.5% on the day.