Sterne Agee Drops Atlantic Coast Federal

Sterne Agee has published a research report on Atlantic Coast Federal Corporation

and has discontinued coverage on the company due to a reallocation of resources. In the report, Sterne Agee writes "Atlantic Coast Financial Corp. reported 3Q10 GAAP earnings of ($0.16) per share. Excluding a loss on the sale of securities, operating EPS equaled ($0.14), and beat our estimate by $0.02. Lower credit costs accounted for the outperformance. During the quarter, operating expenses increased 12% as a result of additional write downs on foreclosed assets. As a result of lower net interest margin assumptions, we decreased our 2010, 2011, and 2012 operating estimates to ($0.86), ($0.23), and ($0.05) from ($0.69), ($0.06), and $0.21." Sterne Agee goes on to say that "At the time of the coverage drop, we rated the stock Neutral. Our 2010, 2011, and 2012 operating EPS estimates equaled ($0.86), ($0.23), and ($0.05), respectively." Atlantic Coast Federal Corporation closed yeseterday at $1.69.