J.P. Morgan Reiterates Overweight Rating on Comerica

In a report published Wednesday, J.P. Morgan & Co. reiterated its Overweight rating on Comerica (NYSE: CMA).J.P. Morgan noted, “Comerica reported 4Q12 EPS of $0.68, which also appear to be core and beat our estimate of $0.67 and the consensus estimate of $0.65. Although there were many moving parts to the quarter, overall, we would consider this a relatively ‘as expected' quarter, with the company posting decent loan growth (avg loans increasing ~5% annual pace) in the plus column offset by greater than expected pressure on the net interest margin, which declined 9 bps q/q to 2.87% primarily on loans remixing into lower spread assets (detracted 4 bps) as well as securities yields declining (detracted 3 bps). When combined we find net interest income as well as total revenue ‘stable' with the prior quarter. Looking into 2013, the company's guidance turned a shade grayer with specific targets for items such as loan growth and net interest income no longer being provided and replaced with items such as average loans growing at a slower pace than in 2012 and net interest income being lower. We note that last year's 4Q11 release also contained vague targets (replaced with more specific ones with 2Q12 earnings). While trends were generally as expected when layered on with watered-down guidance, we suspect investors will find little to get excited over.Comerica closed on Tuesday at $31.87.