Wells FargoWFCCOMMENTDec 22, 2014Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Oct 26, 2026. Market Open.
She just bought more. Is surprised it hasn't recovered from being down 11% this year. The last quarter was very good. She expects them to gain market share going forward. Their Return on Tangible Common Equity (ROTCE) targets of 17-18% are not aggressive and could do better, and their guide of net-interest income was better for the full year. At 1.5x book is attractive. The bank has lagged peers but will catch up in coming quarters.
Yesterday, they reported a revenue miss but an earnings beat at 13% earnings growth. Net interest income was light, and net interest margin was stable and came in higher than expected, slightly (they've missed this 9 of the last 10 quarters). Numbers grew in investment banking though the trading and wealth management businesses came up short. Cost controls remain, though. Shares fell 3% yesterday, so he'd buy on this pullback.
It just reported a top and bottom line miss: 4.5% sales growth, 13% earnings growth and a 64% efficiency ratio in Q4 YOY. The earnings shortfall came from higher severance expenses. The business is doing well, but not as well as he and Wall Street were hoping. Still believes in this long-term, but took some shares off the table yesterday. Is still more downside.
Wells Fargo (WFC-N) or J.P. Morgan (JPM-N)? A lot of the small mid-cap oil companies have heavy exposure, from a banking point of view, along refined (?) equity issues. Not sure of the concentration for the oil exposure, but given the run-up we have had globally, he would think that everything from the A&P companies to the pipelines, etc. will have impacts. Historically this has been considered to have the best risk management culture. This showed up during the banking blow-up, as they didn’t have to take the money. J.P. Morgan was considered to be #2. Both banks are quite good. This one is more of a consumer driven story where J.P. Morgan is a banking driven story. He would rather chase the regional trade, because there is still a lot of regulatory glare been exposed to the money centred banks. Of the 2, he would favour this bank.