Bernstein Research Reiterates on Bank of America Following 3Q13 Earnings

In a report published Tuesday, Bernstein Research analyst John E. McDonald reiterated a Market Perform rating and $15.00 price target on

. In the report, Bernstein Research noted, “In this report, we update our review of Bank of America's legal issues following 3Q13 earnings to get an idea of what the company has settled to date, where we think its legal and putback-related reserves stand, and what its future financial exposure could be to additional mortgage putback claims and other legal actions. We estimate that BAC has taken in ~$51b in legal and mortgage putback-related reserve additions since 2008, and has paid out ~$33b in settlements and repurchases in the same period, leaving ~$18b in remaining total legal and putback reserves for remaining exposures. Our breakdown of BAC's potential litigation and putback exposures implies that the company could need to add an additional ~$7.5b to reserves over the couple of years, which would create a modest headwind to our modeled estimates. However, we maintain our estimates and rate BAC Market-Perform, with a price target of $15.” Bank of America closed on Monday at $14.04.