Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018

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Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Territorial Bancorp Inc.(TBNK)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Territorial Bancorp (NASDAQ: TBNK) shares touched a new 52-week low of $21.31. Territorial Bancorp shares have dropped 9.43% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.18% in the same period.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Swedish Export Credit Corp (GRU)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Casey Wilson]

  Investing in commodity-based ETFs (exchange-traded funds) or ETNs (exchange-traded notes) is a great way to gain exposure to a specific commodity, like corn (NYSE Arca: CORN), livestock (NYSE Arca: COW), or grains (NYSE Arca: GRU).

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Greenlight Capital Re Ltd.(GLRE)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Jim Robertson]

  Note that hedge fund mogul David Einhorn has been a director ofthe predecessor company since May 2006. Mr. Einhorn co-founded, and has served as the President of, Greenlight Capital, Inc., since January 1996. Funds managed by Greenlight are some ofthe Companys principal stockholders. Since July 2004, Mr. Einhorn has served as Chairman of the Board of Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd (Nasdaq: GLRE).

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Old National Bancorp Capital Trust I(ONB)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The twenty stocks in Worth’s basket are: Ameriprise Financial (AMP) Bank of America, Banner (BANR), Citigroup, Citizens Financial Group (CFG), East West Bancorp (EWBC), First NBC Bank Holding (FNBC), HFF (HF), KeyCorp(KEY), Legacy Texas Financial Group (LTXB), Lincoln National (LNC), Morgan Stanley, Old National Bancorp (ONB), PacWest Bancorp (PACW), PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), Principal Financial Group (PFG), Stifel Financial (SF), SVB Financial Group (SIVB), TCF Financial (TCB), and Wells Fargo.

• [By kiplinger]
  

   Old National Bancorp (ONB) is a 181-year-old financial institution with 195 branches, mainly in the Midwest. The stock, which is still down by about one-third from its prerecession high, trades at just 13 times projected 2016 earnings and yields an attractive 3.4%. If interest rates ever rise, the bank should benefit from a widening spread between its cost of funds and the interest rates borrowers pay.

  It’s a favorite of David Dreman, author of the classic 1980 book Contrarian Investment Strategy. His philosophy: “We believe that the markets are not perfectly efficient.” Some stocks, in other words, are judged by the market to be cheaper than their actual worth.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]

  Cramer’s game plan for next week’s trading starts on Monday, when Warren Buffett is scheduled to be on CNBC. Cramer said he wants to hear Buffett’s thoughts on his portfolio’s biggest under-performers, like American Express (AXP) , Coca-Cola (KO) and Wells Fargo (WFC) .

• [By WWW.KIPLINGER.COM]

  Cliches aside, Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) might not be the most popular name after its phony accounts scandal, but so what? Its still a quality business with a quality stock that yields 3.4%.

• [By Laurie Kulikowski]
  

  We rate WELLS FARGO & CO as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, growth in earnings per share, increase in stock price during the past year, good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity. 

• [By Ben Levisohn]
  

  Earnings season is getting underway this week, with big banks JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) announcing their results on Friday. They’ll be followed by Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) on Jan. 17, and Goldman Sachs (GS) on Jan. 18.

• [By Money Morning Staff Reports]

  This jump primarily had to do with Berkshire’s stake in Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), which rose 5.4% on Nov. 9 alone. This spike in the embattled bank’s shares added $1.7 billion to Buffett’s fortune in the span of 24 hours.

• [By Ben Levisohn]
  

  Wells Fargo (WFC) has come a long way since its account-opening scandal–enough that it makes you wonder if that scandal has been forgotten on Wall Street. Not Argus analyst Stephen Biggar, who cut Wells Fargo today, arguing that the scandal remains an overhang for the banking giant following its earnings miss last week:

  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

  We are downgrading Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) to HOLD from BUY following the companys 4Q earnings report and the recent sharp increase in the share price. WFC shares have more than recovered from their September 2016 selloff, which followed the revelation that bank employees had opened numerous fraudulent accounts to meet aggressive sales goals. In particular, bank employees opened new accounts with customer funds without disclosing this to customers…

  
  

  For a bank that largely sailed through the financial crisis, and that had maintained a far better reputation than most peers, the scandal is clearly a black eye. The practices were widespread enough to call the banks culture into question…Along with the 4Q results, the company noted a decline in visits to retail branches, which we believe will have a lingering effect on account openings. There have also been reports of fallout in other WFC businesses, such as wholesale banking, where some municipalities have temporarily suspended activity with the company.

  
  

  Biggar also cites the fact that Wells Fargo’s shares have reached his previous $53 price target and now “appear fairly valued.”

  Shares Wells Fargo are little changed at$53.76 at 9:34 a.m. today, while the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) has fallen 0.6% to$42.13.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Digital Realty Trust Inc.(DLR)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE: DFT) shares shot up 10 percent to $61.07. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) announced plans to merge with DuPont Fabros.

• [By Benzinga News Desk]
  

  Last year was brutal for hedge fund investors — but you wouldn’t know it from the fund managers’ paychecks: Link

  ECONOMIC DATA
  The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity for the latest week is schedule for release at 7:00 a.m. ET.
  The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.
  ANALYST RATINGS
  Jefferies Upgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) from Hold to Buy
  JPMorgan Upgraded Clovis Oncology (NASDAQ: CLVS) From Neutral to Overweight
  Morgan Stanley Upgrades TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) From Equal-Weight to Overweight
  Macquarie Downgraded Disney (NYSE: DIS) from Outperform to Neutral
  Deutsche Bank Downgraded AvalonBay (NYSE: AVB) from Buy to Hold
  Wells Fargo Downgrades Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR) From Outperform To Market Perform

  
  

  This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Tree.com Inc.(TREE)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]

  Coming up on this episode of Mad Money: Cramer interviews United Technologies (UTX) CEO Greg Hayes; and Doug Lebda, CEO of LendingTree (TREE) . Plus, don’t miss the Lightning Round. Which stocks is Cramer bullish on?

• [By Lisa Levin]
  

  Shares of Lendingtree Inc (NASDAQ: TREE) got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $212.90. LendingTree reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.90 per share on sales of $152.8 million. The company also raised its FY17 outlook.

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  Many of the sponsors of Bill O’Reilly’s Fox show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” have cancelled ads in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal. However, two mainstream advertisers continue to support O’Reilly online via ads on his Bill O’Reilly website. Based on observations over the past 24 hours, these include LendingTree Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) and the Hefty division of Reynolds Consumer Products.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Nuveen Municipal Value Fund Inc.(NUV)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Donald van Deventer]

  The latest implied forward rate forecast from Kamakura Corporation shows projected 10-year U.S. Treasury yields differing -0.07% to 0.03% from last week while fixed rate mortgage yields varied by -0.01% to 0.08%. Mortgage yields, determined by the Monday through Wednesday weekly survey of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, lag Treasury movements simply because of the 3-day yield calculation used in the Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is projected to rise from 2.92% at Thursday’s close (down 0.06% from last week) to 3.374% (down 0.06% from last week) in one year. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield in ten years is forecast to reach 4.639%, 1 basis point lower than last week. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage rate is forecast to rise from the effective yield of 3.69% on Thursday (down 0.001% from last week) to 4.222% (down 0.006% from last week) in one year and 6.29% in 10 years, up 0.038% from last week. We explain the background for these calculations in the rest of this note, along with some mortgage servicing rights metrics. The forecast allows investors in exchange traded U.S. Treasury funds (TLT) (TBT), total return bond funds (BOND), municipal bonds (NUV) and exchange traded mortgage funds (REM) to assess likely total returns over the next 120 months. Treasury-related exchange traded funds affected by the forward rates include:

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: American International Group Inc.(AIG)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  BMO’s Charles Sebaski explains why he upgraded American International Group (AIG) to Outperform from market Perform:

  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

  AIG has been trading at discount to its tangible book given its mid-single digit return profile; however, we expect AIGs valuation to keep increasing with its improving return profile. We are now forecasting AIG to generate a 9.9% operating return on tangible common equity (ROtE) in 2018, which would be a 450 bp improvement from 2016. A double-digit return profile warrants the 1x multiple that we are applying to its tangible book value per share. While we expect AIGs return profile to benefit from lower taxes, we also expect the companys life and retirement business to improve from the rising interest rates as those spread businesses are more interest rate sensitive than the P&C business. That said, we expect continued improvement on both the loss and expense sides of the P&C as contributing factors to the ROtE improve.

  
  

  BMO also upgraded Arch Capital Group (ACGL), Brown & Brown (BRO), and Travelers (TRV).

  Shares of American International Group have declined 0.4% to $65.60 at 3:36 p.m. today, whileArch Capital Group has gained 2% to $87.90,Brown & Brown has advanced 0.5% to $44.65, andTravelers has risen 1.3% to $120.79.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:

  Wall Street expects Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) to report quarterly earnings at $1.06 per share on revenue of $1.57 billion before the opening bell. Dr Pepper Snapple shares fell 0.07 percent to close at $93.49 on Monday.
  Analysts expect American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) to post quarterly earnings at $1.01 per share on revenue of $12.87 billion after the closing bell. AIG shares gained 0.38 percent to $66.39 in after-hours trading.
  Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO) reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed expectations. Flowers Foods shares fell 1.87 percent to $20.45 in the after-hours trading session.
  Before the markets open, Diebold Nixdorf Inc (NYSE: DBD) is projected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.32 per share on revenue of $1.31 billion. Diebold Nixdorf shares slipped 0.73 percent to close at $27.20 on Monday.

  
  

  Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  American International Group (AIG) tumbled to the bottom of the S&P 500 today after its earnings fell well short of the Street consensus.

  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

  AIG dropped 8.9% to $60.85 today, while the S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 2,349.25.

  Yes, AIG’s earnings were bad. It reported an operating loss of $2.72 a share, missing forecasts for a profit of 42 cents, according to Bloomberg. And it didn’t help that John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. cut its stake in the insurer.

  
  

  You’ll notice the forecast is different than what it was in my earlier post on AIG–and an AIG spokesperson even reached out to tell me that the consensus, at least according to FactSet, should had been for a loss of 61 cents a share. Why the confusion? RBC’s Mark Dwelle and Scott Heleniak have your answer:

  In reporting results AIG has recast all of its business segments, transferring various pieces to a Legacy unit, reallocating corporate expenses and net investment income as well as making some changes as to what is included within operating income, the most notable of which is that loss reserve discount effects in U.S. Commercial Insurance (and the Legacy unit) are now excluded from Operating Income. Accordingly, comparisons to prior reported results, and to some extent our 4Q16 estimates, require some reconciliation.

  
  

  Macquarie’sAmit Kumar considers the bull and bear cases on AIG:

  On 2/14, after market close, AIG reported a Q4 operating loss of $2.72 per share vs. our estimate of a $0.52 loss and street consensus of a $0.54 loss. Results are not directly comparable to street consensus due to lack of unanimity in terms of reserve adjustment estimates. Results included a higher than estimated $5.6 billion or $3.56/share of adverse development. The company had previously announced the possibility of a material reserve charge in the quarter. The bulls on the stock would note that this quar

• [By Dan Caplinger]
  

  Wednesday was yet another record-setting day for the stock market, as the Dow climbed triple digits and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite followed the venerable average to unprecedented heights. Economic data showing rising inflation made it more likely that the Federal Reserve will look to boost interest rates at its next Federal Open Market Committee meeting next month, and the ripples throughout the bond market sent many investors to consider stocks instead. Yet despite the substantial rally, some stocks missed out on the move higher, and American International Group (NYSE:AIG), Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK), and Movado Group (NYSE:MOV) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we’ll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.

• [By Ben Levisohn]
  

  Heading into its earnings following the close of trading yesterday, shares of American International Group (AIG) had gained 34% from its low on Jun. 28 to Feb. 14. Then the bottom fell out.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Watch For 2018: Credit Suisse Group(CS)

Advisors’ Opinion:

• [By Money Morning News Team]

  That’s why Krauth predicts the price of gold will hit $1,400 by the end of the year. Many analysts from banks likeCredit SuisseGroup AG (NYSE ADR: CS) even see gold going as high as $1,500.

• [By Diane Alter]

  The head underwriters for the ZTO IPO are Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS). Also working on the deal are China Renaissance, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS), and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).

• [By Paul R. La Monica]

  European banks worse off than 2008? Lamensdorf is concerned about the exposure to bad loans (especially energy company debt) held by big banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Credit Suisse (CS) and Deutsche Bank (DB). He’s shorting all three.