Out Fox The $treet

  Wells Fargo & Company reported a solid Q1 2023 beat despite the banking crisis. The large bank faces higher credit losses and deposit pressure. Wells Fargo repurchased $4 billion worth of stock in a strong return to buying cheap shares. Wells Fargo & Company stock remains cheap at 8x EPS targets. While the U.S. banking sector was in a crisis during Q1,  Wells Fargo & Company  ( NYSE: WFC ) spent the quarter repurchasing a ton of shares. The large bank definitely faced growing credit problems, but the credit losses  aren't alarming. My  investment thesis  remains ultra Bullish on the stock at $40. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Citigroup easily beat analyst estimates in Q2. The bank took a $7.9 billion credit loss, but the company still generated net income of $1.3 billion. The stock shouldn't trade far below the TBV of $71.15 while offering a 4% dividend yield. For a stock trading far below tangible book value,  Citigroup  ( C ) had a solid quarter. The large financial was able to generate a large enough profit to cover the dividend while still building most capital ratios. My  investment thesis  remains highly bullish on the stock as a pick for the decade. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Citigroup reported solid Q3 results. Capital returns provided strong tailwinds for the stock. Citigroup offers the best yield in the large financial sector. Prior to the open,  Citigroup  ( C ) reported another quarter of  solid earnings , backing up my long-held  investment thesis  that the financial was a huge value. During the quarter, the large financial ramped up capital returns, providing a large tailwind that the market keeps fighting. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Wells Fargo hiked capital return plans by over $3 billion. The large bank had the smallest hike of the large banks. The valuation thesis along with lingering fraud headwinds limit the relative value of the stock. At a time when most of the large banks approved massive increases to capital returns,  Wells Fargo  ( WFC ) had a not so surprising limited bump in  capital plans . The end result is the large bank that use to lead the sector in capital returns is now turning into a laggard confirming by previous  investment thesis . Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Citigroup passed the Fed stress test with flying colors. The large financial should announce a massive increase to capital returns this week. The stock remains cheap trading below tangible book value. Since last discussing the expectations for capital returns and specifically a dividend hike at  Citigroup  ( C ), the CFO provided some further details on expectations and the Fed stress tests results were released. The data points pivot towards some big capital return plans. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Citigroup has recently held up better than other large financials. A big dividend hike at the last CCAR was a catalyst for the stock. The large financial appears best positioned to hike the capital return this year, providing a catalyst for the cheap stock. Despite obvious value and still trading below book value,  Citigroup  (NYSE: C ) has struggled to move beyond $62. The large financial hasn't been hit by the general weakness in the sector, though one shouldn't see that as reason for the stock to not rally. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Wells Fargo reported Q4 results that missed analyst estimates. The large bank still trades at the high end of sector valuations, despite a relative underperformance over the last three months. Investors should remember that success is all relative. Before the open on Friday,  Wells Fargo  (NYSE: WFC ) reported  quarterly earnings  along with a group of large financials. The troubled bank actually missed estimates while the sector had generally blowout numbers. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Bank of the Ozarks reported strong Q3 results. The bank completed two more acquisitions during the quarter but the market is focused on the cycle lows in asset quality metrics. The stock is both cheap and expensive depending on the valuation metric making the trading action around $40 crucial for the path forward. Before the open,  Bank of the Ozarks (NASDAQ: OZRK )  reported strong quarterly results. Lots of critics question the strategy of the regional bank, but one can't argue with the results. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No position. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Bank Of America passed the Fed stress test with flying colors. The bank is set to substantially increase capital returns without stressing the capital ratios. The stock is a screaming buy that now offers decent yield support. Based on the chart of  Bank Of America  (NYSE: BAC ), the market repeatedly stresses over the prospects of the large financial. The stock has taken repeated hits over the last year despite relatively stable earnings and strong capital ratios. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

Citigroup passes the 2016 stress test with flying colors. The bank stock took a huge hit due to Brexit. The bank is perfectly aligned to announce a big capital return increase as the stock hits recent lows. Despite strong CCAR results,  Citigroup  (NYSE: C ) ended down over 9% and is trading near recent lows around $40 due to Brexit. In essence, the bank is doing what it can but external events continue hammering the stock whether justified or not. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long C

JPMorgan Chase produced another quarter of strong earnings that easily surpassed analyst estimates. The promise of lower legal fees and regulatory fines is playing out while higher interest rates appear on the way. Despite a roughly 10% gain in the last quarter, the stock remains extremely cheap and has multiple catalysts to push it higher. For Q2'15, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) reported quarterly results that again easily surpassed analyst estimates. The bank continues to generate large profits despite an unfavorable interest rate environment. The company is able to trim expenses even while revenues struggle. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned.  Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

Summary Bank of America reported disappointing Q1'15 results. The bank remains a highly rate sensitive play, suggesting investors shouldn't over-analyze quarterly results due to declining rates. Due to cost management and a cheap value, Bank of America remains an attractive pick. With the Q1'15 earnings release at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) , a lot analysts will analyze every detail to the max. The stock is trading slightly down on the results as investors are disappointed with the numbers, especially on the revenue side. The real question is whether investors should compare the results to analyst expectations or focus more on the large quarterly profits for a stock with a market valuation of $166 billion. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Goldman Sachs had to resubmit the capital return plan, leaving a lot unknown about the approved stock buyback plan. The investment bank hiked the dividend by $0.05 to a yield of 1.4%. Investors should pay less attention to the stock buyback plan and more attention to the cheap valuation. Of all the major financial institutions, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) is the one that doesn't disclose the stock buyback plan approved after the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, or CCAR. Though passing the stress test, the investment bank had to revise its capital return plan, leaving most analysts questioning whether it will reduce the stock repurchase amounts of the last couple of years. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Citigroup submitted a surprisingly large capital return plan that met no objections from the Fed. The results show the other large financial institutions requiring adjusted capital return plans. Previous recommendation to own the stock remains intact. For a very beleaguered bank, Citigroup (NYSE: C ) passed the Fed stress tests with flying colors. Considering the failure last year and the executive jobs on the line, the opinion all along was that the bank would easily pass the test this year. The surprise is the size of the capital returns approved and the struggles of the other leading financial institutions. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary BoA passed the Fed stress test, setting up increased capital return. The CCAR due to be released on the 11th has an overstated importance. Investors should use the weakness in the stock to load up based on valuation and not any capital return plan that is not needed to justify value. The stress tests and corresponding CCAR, or Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, plans are peculiar events created out of the financial crisis. Sure, banks and the Fed need to understand the impacts of adverse economic events on capital levels, but the results under crazy scenarios unlikely to occur in our lifetime again aren't impacting actual bank results. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Citigroup announced two positive deals this week. The news sets the company up for a strong capital return plan in 2015. Stock remains cheap trading below tangible book value. For a very maligned stock, Citigroup (NYSE: C ) is starting to generate a bullish trend. Just this week, the large financial institution announced the selling of subprime lender OneMain Financial Holdings and the signing of a co-branded credit card deal with Costco (NASDAQ: COST ) . The stock remains stuck in a channel for the last two years between $45 and $55. Will this combination of bullish events finally push the stock higher? Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long C. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Goldman Sachs reported Q4'14 earnings. The stock remains a Strong Buy. The original investment theory of solid yields and huge earnings remains intact.          After the weak bank earnings this week, investors didn't expect much from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) by the time it reported Friday morning. The bank actually beat estimates, though analysts greatly reduced these estimates from levels of a week ago. Even after the sell off this week, the stock is struggling to gain traction with it trading down around $2.00 mid-day. Again, investors appear more concerned about momentum instead of the valuation proposition of the financial institution. Read the full update at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

With so much negative news surrounding emerging markets and the strong gains in the US market, it is interesting to see India slowly climb to multi-year highs. In the last couple of months, the Bombay Sensex Index has climbed over 21,000. The index originally reached over 20,000 in December 2007. Since that point it has gone virtually nowhere. See the chart below: The best that I can tell the index actually reached an all-time high after spending the last six years consolidating. India appears set for a major breakout and maybe the best stock to play that move in the US would be ICICI Bank (IBN) . The major Indian bank with a market cap in excess of $20B actually hit a peak of over $70 back in early 2008. The stock has lost 50% of its value during those nearly 6 years (sounds like the NASDAQ bubble from 2000). It might be a good stock to own in 2014. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Editors Choice Green Dot Corp.  (NYSE: GDOT ) , a leading independent prepaid card provider for the underbanked, announced yesterday the launch of the first mobile-focused bank. Will this turn around the prospects of a stock that has been crushed over the last year as fears of new entrants into the prepaid card sector have hurt expectations? GoBank is designed to be the first bank account focused on being used on a mobile device more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Wells Fargo (WFC) has been a long time holding in the Net Payout Yield Portfolio mainly because the company use to pay a sizable dividend. WFC also has one of the best management teams in the banking sector. The position size has remained small for a while mainly due to the cut of the dividend back in the financial crisis. WFC currently pays a annual divy of $.20 amounting to paltry 0.8%. Nothing worthwhile of the Net Payout Yield which typically finds companies with yield exceeding 5-6%. Today, the CFO announced  at the BancAnalysts Association of Boston conference that they were working on plans of reinstating a dividend that eventually would match the 35-40% payout ratio from before the crisis. At current stock prices, that would place the divy over 4% based on the estimate of earnings at $2.8 in 2011. WFC becomes a lot more attractive to investors with a 4%+ divy. Looking at adding to the position prior to such a move. Via Dow Jones Newswires: Wells Fargo & Co. (...