UPDATE: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Stonegate Mortgage On 1Q14 Wrap-Up

In a report published Friday, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Bose George upgraded the rating on

from Market Perform to Outperform, and reiterated the $17.00 price target. In the report, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods noted, “Operating EPS excludes a $7.9 million negative MSR valuation adjustment, $9.6 million of ramp and other one-time expenses, and other non-recurring expenses of $1.0 million. We are reducing our 2014 and 2015 EPS estimates on lower mortgage banking volumes. We are upgrading SGM to Outperform on valuation. We are maintaining our $17 price target, which equates to roughly 7x our 2015 EPS estimate.” Stonegate Mortgage closed on Thursday at $12.64.