Norman Levine BankUnited, Inc BKU-N PAST TOP PICK Oct 01, 2015

(A Top Pick Jan 12/15. Up 25.23%.) A commercial bank, and the big deposit taker in Florida and the New York metropolitan area. It loans to companies and real estate developers, the 2 hottest areas in the US.

Regional, commercial bank. It doesn’t loan much to consumers. Florida and New York Metro area. One of the best management teams in the banking industry. Their capital structure is very conservative and they are well capitalized. They guided down on future growth. They are going to hold off on growth until times get better and he likes that.

A regional bank that has a lot of exposure to small business loans, but trading at rather high valuations, and we are not really seeing the growth. There are more attractive regional banks that are seeing better growth, such as Zions Bank (ZION-Q). BankUnited would be a Hold, or just stay away.

Bought some years ago and turned into the largest commercial bank headquartered in Florida. The dividend growth is not high enough for him. Loan growth in the back of the year is expected to slow. Almost 3% dividend and only some dividend growth. He would own it otherwise.

Within the US banks, he prefers the regionals. This one is a commercial bank, not a retail bank. It loans money to companies and real estate developers, etc. in Florida and the New York metropolitan market. Exceedingly well capitalized. Very well-run. He likes that it is very picky on its loans. They have cut back on some of their commercial lending because it has gotten too competitive and the margins have been squeezed. This will definitely be a beneficiary of higher interest rates. Dividend yield of 2.66%.

(Top Pick July 25/16, Up 13.19%) It came out of bankruptcy in 2007. It is more sensitive to loan growth than interest rates.

(Top Pick Sept. 9/16, Up 6.84%) It went bankrupt during the crisis and was rescued and recapitalized. It is headquartered in Florida and takes retail business, but is mainly a commercial bank. It is dependent on loan growth more than interest rate growth. Loan growth has been a little sluggish, but he feels it will go up. He is putting new clients into it.

Regional banks and anything that's interest-sensitive is doing extremely well today. Trading around book value, good loan growth, still gas in the tank. Exposure to commercial real estate not excessive.