UPDATE: Sterne Agee Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT on Western Alliance Bancorporation

In a report published Monday, Sterne Agee reiterated its Buy rating on Western Alliance Bancorporation WAL, and raised its price target from $13.00 to $14.50. Sterne Agee noted, “While 4Q12 earnings were significantly better than expected, we believe the next few quarters will finally illustrate the earnings potential of the franchise from an ROA, efficiency and credit quality perspective. Further, WAL remains a growth story; we are increasing our FY13E by $0.21 to $1.11 per share, and our FY14E to $0.16 to $1.26 per share. We are moving our PT to $14.50 (+$1.50) based on 11.5x our FY14E.” Western Alliance Bancorporation closed on Friday at $12.36.