Investor sentiment toward regional banks had gotten so negative, J.P. Morgan analyst Steven Alexopoulos said it was time to back away from his bearish stance on the sector, and even turn bullish on three beaten-down stocks.
He upgraded Western Alliance Bancorp WAL and Comerica Inc. CMA to overweight from neutral, and doubled upgraded Zions Bancorporation ZION to overweight from underweight, saying the banks’ stocks “appear substantially mispriced to us.” “With big disconnect between stock price selloff and fundamentals, we see significant upside potential in [Western Alliance] shares,” Alexopoulos wrote in a note to clients.
Comerica shares were the S&P 500’s third-best performer, as they shot up 15.2%, which was also the best gain since Nov. 9, 2020. The upgrades are part of Alexopoulos’ move to neutral on the sector, after being at underweight since his preview of third-quarter 2022 results.