Compass Point Reiterates Buy Rating, $17 PT on Fifth Third Bancorp

In a report published Wednesday, Compass Point Research & Trading reiterated its Buy rating and $17.00 price target on Fifth Third Bancorp

. Compass Point noted, “We reiterate our Buy rating and $17 price target following Fifth Third's announcement that the Federal Reserve had "no objection" to their re-submitted capital plan as part of the 2012 CCAR process. The revised capital plan included $600M of share repurchases through 1Q13, roughly $300M above our modeled estimates and a $0.10 dividend, inline with our estimate. The company also announced they have entered into an agreement to repurchase $350M of stock in the near future. Due to these developments we are adjusting our FY12 EPS from $1.58 to $1.59 and raising our FY13 EPS estimate from $1.50 to $1.55. Although this announcement takes away the near term catalyst for shares and the stock has outperformed regional peers by ~4% following earnings, we believe the stock will continue to outperform as investors adjust their forward earnings estimates.” Fifth Third Bancorp closed on Tuesday at $14.39.