NEW YORK - Shares of Suntrust Banks and BB&T soared on Friday despite posting relatively mediocre profitability numbers in terms of their size. BB&T which is the 11th largest bank in the United States, with assets of $157 billion saw its share price spike over 4% on Friday. The company has one of the lowest tier 1 ratios among the major ten banks at 7.1%. It only realized a profit of $200 million or annualized it would give the company a PE of 23 a hefty premium to the premium bank Wells Fargo. It also, already traded at a premium compares to tangible book value even compared to Wells Fargo. BB&T is one of the few banks which has allowance for loan losses below their nonperforming loans. This means in the future they will likely need to build up more reserves than their peers which makes their premium even higher.
Suntrust Banks which is the 9th largest bank in the U.S. by assets also saw its valuation soar on Friday. Suntrust made nearly $200 million before tarp payments. However the company still owes TARP money and shareholders should be prepared for potential dilution. Even not including TARP payments Suntrust is getting a PE of 20 annualized and also does not trade at a discount to book value in relation to its peers. These two companies despite their weaker earnings are getting Wall Street premiums compared to other banks such as PNC Financial.
PNC Financial has some of the strongest credit ratios as it has a 9.8% common equity ratio. PNC is making 4 to 8 times the amount that each of these banks make and has 3 times the amount of tangible equity and 50% larger by assets yet its valuation is only 50% higher than BB&T and 100% higher than Sun Trust. These banks perhaps are not overvalued but their value makes other banks cheaper. To see the full PNC report click here.
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