Morgan Stanley Maintains Equal-weight on First Republic Bank After Light EPS Miss

Morgan Stanley has published a research report on First Republic Bank

after the company reported core 4Q EPS a penny below consensus at $0.44. In the report, Morgan Stanley writes, "Despite the slight shortfall, this was not a disappointing quarter. Loan growth was very strong and net interest margin expanded 14 bps in a tough operating environment. The strength was largely offset, however, by higher operating expenses. Pretax income matched our estimate exactly at $141 mil, but a lower tax rate and higher purchase accounting adjustments led to reported EPS of $0.68, $0.01 above of our estimate and $0.02 ahead of consensus." Morgan Stanley maintains its Equal-weight rating on First Republic Bank, which is currently trading up $0.01 from yesterday's $31.25 closing price.