J.P. Morgan Upgrading First Horizon National
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is out with a research report on First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE: FHN) and is upgrading shares to Overweight and is raising its price target to $11.50 from $8.50.
In a note to clients, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. writes, "As the fundamental picture has worsened for the regional banks over the past two months, the market has taken the regional bank sector to the tool shed, with our average stock declining 30% YTD and many names down 40%+. Although our bearish view on the economy has thus far led us to suggest investors pay up for growth and concentrate positions among niche names, such as SBNY, with the sector now trading at 1.1x TBV, or nearing the 0.96x bottom reached in March 2009, we now see an opportunity for value managers to acquire regional bank stocks at one of the most attractive valuation entry points into the sector we have seen in several years. With our stocks now trading at an average of only 6.5x normalized earnings (viewed now as a 2015 event), we recommend investors take a contrarian view and start increasing exposure to mid- and small-cap banks. In line with our updated sector view, we believe the sell-off in shares of FHN, PVTB, TCB and ZION is overdone and, as a result, we upgrade each of these to Overweight."
Shares of FHN lost 38 cents on Friday to close at $5.96.
