UPDATE: Bank of America Reiterates on Capital One Financial Following Q1 GAAP EPS Report

In a report published Thursday, Bank of America analyst Kenneth Bruce reiterated a Buy rating on Capital One Financial COF, and raised the price target from $78.00 to $84.00. In the report, Bank of America noted, “COF reported Q1 GAAP EPS of $1.96, above our $1.80 estimate and Consensus of $1.70 as top-line revenue miss was offset by lower provisions and lower operating expenses. Credit provisions were +$0.39 vs. our forecast, while lower expenses were +$0.58. COF released a healthy $208M of reserves in the quarter. Q1 was also noisy, as COF restated some results and upped its prior '14 PPNR guidance to $10B from $9.8B, mainly due to its adoption of a new accounting standard related to its low income housing tax credits. Loan growth still remained weak, but COF saw some positives and reiterated that 2H'14 will be more favorable. "Overall, Q1 was stronger than expected on expenses and credit costs and we think investors will react favorably to the print as they wait for better top-line growth to potentially materialize later in the year. Reiterate Buy.” Capital One Financial closed on Wednesday at $75.16.