Bank of America (BAC) recently reached a new 52 week high of $10.58. The new high for BAC was the after effect of Citigroup’s plans to cut 11,000 jobs and close 84 branches, which was announced on Wednesday. In the last 52-weeks, BAC shares have been trading between a low of $4.92 and a high of $10.58. BAC shares rallied an impressive $0.55 (5.55%) on December 5, 2012, closing at $10.46. Shares of BAC have been steadily rising over the past three months, after the bank fired approximately 16,000 employees. BAC plans to raise $30 billion in additional capital by 2014. This should fuel the stock into the New Year.
Citigroup (C) has been adjusting to new leadership after the former CEO, Vikram Pandit, resigned from the position in October. The new CEO, Micheal Corbat, laid out his plans on Wednesday to reduce costs, which is estimated to save the bank around $1 billion in annual expenses by 2014. As a result of Mr. Corbat’s announcement, Citi shares popped up 6.3%. This is a solid start for the new CEO, who hopes to convince investors that Citigroup is worth more than what its tangible book value indicates. Mike Mayo, analyst from CLSA, said in an interview with CNBC that he was confident that new leadership is committed to taking the company in a new direction. Citigroup (C) shares have been trading between a 52-week low of $24.40 and a high of $38.72. Citigroup (C) received a 4 out of 5 star buy rating from the S&P rating agency.
JPMorgan Chase and Co (JPM) shares shot up 1.55% on Wednesday on heavy volume of 25.4 million shares, according to analysis conducted by SmarTrend. JPM has been fluctuating between a 52-week low of $30.42 and a high of $46.49. JPM recently named Marianne Lake, former CFO of consumer community banking, as the CFO for the company. CEO Jamie Dimon said: “Marianne Lake is an outstanding choice for this critically important role. She has developed an impressive breadth of knowledge and experience in finance across both our wholesale and our consumer businesses.”
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) is anticipating continued job growth in Chicago, where it lends to companies with annual revenues between $20 million and $1 billion. WFC has plans to open a new regional headquarters in September 2013 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. WFC has been trading between a 52 low of $25.18 to a high of $36.60. WFC recently announced it would be launching the CityLIFT program in Oakland, which will aid eligible homebuyers with a down payment of $20,000. This may prove to be a big boost for WFC if the housing industry continues to recover. WFC looks good going into 2013.
I hope to see all four banks perform well through 2013. WFC is probably my favorite going into the New Year due to its exposure to the housing market and its efforts to increase lending for homebuyers.
Below is a graph displaying the Price/Tangible Book Value Ratio’s for BAC, C, JPM, and WFC.
Author: Tyler Sciortino
Contact for questions or inquiries at tsciortino@mail.roosevelt.edu
