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Bank Stocks Do It Again: Financial Winners

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:44:04 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Capital One was the winner among the nation's largest banks on Monday, with shares rising 2% to close at $61.81.

The broad indices all ended with slight declines, but bank stocks continued their amazing run, with the KBW Bank Index rising 0.5% to close at 61.43. The KBW index is up 20% this year, after rising 30% during 2012.

Investors are looking ahead to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the joint congressional Economic Committee on May 22, ahead of the release of the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, on April 30 and May 1. Investors continue to wonder, as they must, when the central bank will slow the expansion of its balance sheet from monthly purchases of $85 billion in long-term securities, in an effort to hold down long-term interest rates. ...

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GE Capital to Pay $6.5 Billion Dividends to GE (Update 1)

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:23:27 EDT

8:09 a.m. ET with morning market action and comments from BernsteinResearch analyst Steven Winoker.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- GE Capital plans to churn out even more cash than it did last year.

The board of directors of General Electric's financial services subsidiary said on Monday it planned to pay the parent company a total of $6.5 billion in dividends during 2013, increasing from $6.4 billion during 2012. ...

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'Easy Money' Over for Bank of America Stock: KBW

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:31:51 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- "We are more than happy to take some profits off the table."

This sums up KBW analyst Christopher Mutascio's downgrade of Bank of America's stock on Sunday to a "market perform" rating from "outperform."

Bank of America's shares closed at $13.43 Friday, just below their reported March 31 tangible book value of $13.46. The shares have returned 16% this year, after more than doubling during 2012. ...

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Big Bank Phobia: Glass-Steagall Would Be Folly

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:30:00 EDT

This is the third of a three-part series rebutting the three most popular approaches toward lowering the systemic risk of large U.S. banks. Part one tackles breaking up the banks and part two deals with capital vs. liquidity.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bringing back the complete separation of investment banks from commercial banks would not strengthen the U.S. financial system, but it would make future bailouts more likely.

This is the third of our three-part series rebutting the three major ideas for ending the perception that the nation's largest banks are "too big to fail," this time focusing on why bringing back the Glass-Steagall amendment to the Banking Act of 1933 would be a bad idea. ...

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Big Banks: Friday Financial Winners

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:26:19 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The nation's largest banks again led the way on Friday, as the broad indices pushed to record highs.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1% to end at a new closing high of 15,354.40, while the S&P 500 was also up 1%%, ending the session at a record closing high of 1,666.12.

The KBW Bank Index was up 2% to close at 61.13, with all 24 index components showing gains. ...

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Big Bank Phobia: Liquidity, Stupid, Not Just Capital

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:00 EDT

This is the second of a three-part series rebutting the three most popular approaches toward lowering the systemic risk of large U.S. banks. Make sure to read Part 1, on breaking up the big banks and Part 3, on the folly of bringing back Glass-Steagall.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Federal Reserve's annual stress test process has done a lot of good, but the tests need to be broadened to include stresses to liquidity as part of the regulator's "severely adverse scenarios."

This is the second of our three-part series rebutting the three major ideas for ending the perception that the nation's largest banks are "too big to fail," focusing on the emphasis of regulators on making sure large banks have enough capital to avoid another government bailout. ...

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Regions Financial: Bank Stock Loser

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:31:31 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Regions Financial was the loser among the largest financial names on Thursday, with shares sliding more than 2% to close at $8.95.

The broad indices ended lower and the KBW Bank Index was down 1% to close at 60.16, following a mostly disappointing batch of economic reports:

The Department of Labor reported that initial unemployment claims for the week ended May 11 increased by 32,000 to 360,000, while the four-week moving average for jobless claims increased by 1,250 to 339,250, from the previous week's revised figure of 338,000. ...

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Big Bank Phobia: Not Too Big to Fail

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:22:43 EDT

This is the first of a three-part series rebutting the three most popular approaches toward lowering the systemic risk of large U.S. banks. Make sure to read Part 2, on liquidity vs. capital reserves and Part 3, on the folly of bringing back Glass-Steagall.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- There are three main approaches being taken by the enemies of large U.S. banks, and all of them are bad ideas.

Five years after the peak of the credit crisis, nearly three years after the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed, and more than two years since the last "final disposition" of government bailouts for the "big six" U.S. banks, it remains quite stylish for members of both political parties to continually bash the large banks, saying they represent a continued threat to the U.S. taxpayer. ...

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Citigroup: Financial Winner

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:41:47 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup was the winner among the largest financial names on Wednesday, with shares rising 2.5% to close at $51.34.

Bank stocks led the market again, as the KBW Bank Index rose over 1% to close at 60.51, with all but one of the 24 index components ending the session with gains

The Dow Jones Industrial Average S&P 500 each pushed further into record territory, after stronger-than-expected housing numbers offset a disappointing report on manufacturing activity. ...

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HSBC Makes U.S. Banks Look Fat and Lazy

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:53:59 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- HSBC is already firing on all cylinders as the company continues its remarkable turnaround, but the company on Wednesday announced plans to maintain its already impressive efficiency ratio.

HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver said in a press release that "we have announced the closure or disposal of 52 non-strategic or underperforming businesses since the beginning of 2011, achieved US$4bn of annualized sustainable cost savings and generated double-digit loan growth in 15 priority markets. HSBC is now simpler, easier to manage and ready to take advantage of growth opportunities."

As part of the company's "unchanged" strategy, HSBC is aiming for an additional $2 billion to $3 billion in annual cost savings. ...

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Bank of America 'Close to Fair Value': Analyst

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:53:22 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's been quite a see-saw ride for Bank of America and its investors.

Shares of the nation's second largest bank by total assets closed at $13.34 Tuesday, returning 15% this year, after more than doubling during 2012. Of course, last year's performance followed an epic 58% drop during 2011, so the volatility has led to a 1% return since the end of 2010.

Not so good for long-term investors, but quite a bit of fun for day traders. ...

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Bank Stocks Lead Bulls: Financial Winners

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:17:06 EDT

Updated from 4:22 p.m. ET with comments from Guggenheim analyst Marty Mosby.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of New York Mellon was the winner among the largest financial names on Tuesday, with shares rising 4% to close at $32.26.

The broad indices all ended with 1% gains, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 pass intraday record highs. Financial stocks led the way, with the KBW Bank Index rising 2% to close at 59.85, with all 24 index components ending the session with gains. ...

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Cullen/Frost Has Earned Its Premium, and More

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:23:32 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On the surface, the stock of Cullen/Frost Bankers looks expensive, but the San Antonio lender appears primed for strong loan growth in its home state of Texas.

Cullen/Frost's shares closed at $62.53 Monday. The shares trade for 15.7 times the consensus 2014 earnings estimate of $3.98, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. That is the highest forward price-to-earnings ratio among the 24 components of the KBW Bank Index .

That forward P/E ratio looks especially high when compared to the largest U.S. banks, but the premium is justified because of Cullen/Frost's amazingly consistent long-term track record for strong earnings, and because of the bank's growing commercial loan pipeline. ...

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Trust and Custody Banks: Financial Winners

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:41:02 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Trust and custody banks were the winners among the nation's largest financial names on Monday.

Shares of State Street of Boston were up over 2% to close at $61.67, while Bank of New York Mellon was up nearly 2% to close at $28.82 and Northern Trust of Chicago was up over 1% to close at $55.11.

The broad indices ended mixed, after the Census Bureau reported Monday that retail sales rose 0.1% in April after falling by a revised 0.5% in March. The consensus estimate among economists polled by Thomson Reuters was for retail sales to fall 0.3% in April. ...

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TheStreet Ratings Top 10 Rating Changes

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:21:46 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet Ratings) -- Every trading day TheStreet Ratings' stock model reviews the investment ratings on around 4,300 U.S. traded stocks for potential upgrades or downgrades based on the latest available financial results and trading activity.

TheStreet Ratings released rating changes on 77 U.S. common stocks for week ending May 13, 2013. 45 stocks were upgraded and 32 stocks were downgraded by our stock model.

Rating Change #10 ...

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