Top Bank Stocks To Buy Following Earnings Season


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods recently released a report recapping the Q1 earnings season for bank stocks. Overall, analysts praised the banks for a solid start to 2015.


Key takeaways
Of the 208 banks that Keefe, Bruyette & Woods looked at, 52 percent beat consensus earnings estimates in Q1. Analysts see net interest income, fee income and loan growth numbers as “solid,” falling mostly in-line with consensus expectations.

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Analysts note that spending was further reined in during the quarter and efficiency ratios improved year-over-year. Overall net interest margin (NIM) compression also fell in-line with expectations.


The numbers
The 52 percent of banks that beat consensus earnings expectations for the quarter is a slight improvement from the last two quarters of 2014, in which less than half of the banks produced earnings beats.


Small and mid-cap banks performed the best during the quarter, with 54 percent of names producing beats. Despite relatively strong earnings, small and mid-cap banks were the worst-performing bank stocks during Q1, generating a median decline of 1.7 percent.


Analysts note that credit conditions remained mostly stable during Q1. Median net charge off (NCO) ratio for the group fell by 3 bps year-over-year (Y/Y), and 2 bps quarter-over-quarter (Q/Q). The median non-performing asset (NPA) ratio fell 34 bps lower Y/Y and 5 bps Q/Q.


Stock picks
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has Outperform ratings on the following bank stocks following Q1 earnings season:
Avenue Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AVNU)
Capital City Bank Group Inc (NASDAQ: CCBG)
Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE: CFG)
Capital One Financial Corp (NYSE: COF)
Eagle Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ: EGBN)
Flagstar Bancorp (NYSE: FBC)
First Business Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ: FBIZ)
Mercantile Bank Corp (NASDAQ: MBWM)
MidSouth Bancorp Inc (NYSE: MSL)
M&T Bank Corp (NYSE: MTB)
Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ: PPBI)
Signature Bank (NASDAQ: SBNY)
SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB)
Square 1 Financial (NASDAQ: SQBK)
SunTrust Banks Inc (NYSE: STI)
Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION)


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Posted In: Analyst ColorEarningsLong IdeasNewsAnalyst RatingsTrading IdeasFinancialsRegional Banks