UPDATE: Bank of America Initiates Coverage on East West Bancorp on Fair Valuation

In a report published Wednesday, Bank of America analyst Ebrahim H. Poonawala initiated coverage on East West Bancorp EWBC with a Neutral rating and $34.00 price target. In the report, Bank of America noted, “With $23bn in assets, Pasadena, California based East West Bancorp (EWBC) focuses on serving the Chinese-American community. Eighty-five percent of the bank is based in the Los Angeles metropolitan and the greater San Francisco Bay area, but EWBC has expanded into urban markets including New York, Texas, and Massachusetts, to tap the growing Chinese-American community. Up 50% year-todate, the stock has outperformed the 23% median for smid-cap peers, likely driven by investors increasing exposure to asset sensitive names following the rise in long rates earlier this year. We estimate 21% in EPS upside at EWBC from higher short rates above the 9% median for our smid-cap universe.” East West Bancorp closed on Tuesday at $32.27.