Although bank stock investors are wading through a period of uncertainty and jittery sentiment, Oppenheimer has a positive outlook on certain stocks. “Fortunately, the fundamentals are generally still stable and generally favorable,” Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski said in a Tuesday note about the U.S. banking industry. “Asset quality is normalizing but remains excellent, fees and trading as expected, and capital markets finally seem to be rebounding.” Kotowski noted that loan growth is still positive despite seeing a notable slowdown. While net interest income peaked earlier this year, he added that the third quarter will likely come out in line with prior expectations and stabilize at levels more than 20% higher than before rates began rising. Oppenheimer named several megabanks as winners of the recovering industry, recommending Citigroup , Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Jefferies Financial , JPMorgan Chase , Morgan Stanley and U.S. Bancorp . These stocks are trading at a 47% relative P/E multiple on a forward basis and are “significantly undervalued,” according to the firm. “In the long run, the patience likely will be rewarded although we readily acknowledge that the sentiment toward the group is unlikely to improve near term,” Kotowski said. JPM BAC,MS,JEF YTD mountain Megabank stock performance. Of Oppenheimer’s picks, U.S. Bancorp and Bank of America have taken the most share price losses so far this year, down 23.3% and 17.1%, respectively. Jefferies and JPMorgan are the two gainers, trading higher by 12.7% and 8.5% this year, respectively. Oppenheimer on Tuesday trimmed its price target on Bank of America by $1 to $48 and maintained its outperform rating. The stock is also a favorite of Morgan Stanley, which said on Tuesday that Bank of America stands as the “biggest beneficiary of higher for longer rates” from free funding and the least exposure to short-dated CDs. JPMorgan was assigned a slightly lowered $215 price target by Oppenheimer. The firm kept its outperform rating on the bank and noted its “exceptional” performance in the second quarter, during which JPMorgan’s revenue rose 34% as it took advantage of higher rates and solid loan growth. JPMorgan and Goldman are looking at a roughly 25% increase in capital requirements under new regulations, Kotowski said in the Tuesday note, explaining that the firms will start charging more for holding certain assets, hold less of others and entirely strike some asset categories. “The banks can quickly grow their capital bases in whatever is required and then resume buybacks after that. … There should be a mid-single digits of capital share buy-back over time, and with the stocks as cheap as they are, that is a great value creator,” Kotowski said.
