Looking for the Next Failed Bank Winner

Updated with closing share prices.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Judging by the pop in shares of East West Bancorp (EWBC Quote) and Iberiabank(IBKC Quote) this month after these companies won separate deals to acquire failed bank assets, trying to pinpoint other institutions gunning for similar transactions could yield hefty returns for investors.

FBR Capital Markets sees past participants BB&T Corp.(BBT Quote) and U.S. Bancorp(USB Quote), as being active, as well as some of the smaller banks it covers: NewAlliance Bancshares(NAL Quote), New York Community Bancorp(NYB Quote), People's United Financial(PBCT Quote), and Washington Federal (WFSL Quote).

A key to the attractiveness of these transactions is, of course, the assistance of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or FDIC, which pledges to share in potential losses, essentially providing what FBR Capital calls a "risk-free earnings stream" in a note issued to clients on Monday. The firm estimates the return on assets, or ROA, on these deals runs around 1% to 1.5%, while it currently puts the median ROA for the top 500 banks at 0.35%.

"The FDIC loss-sharing agreements that we are seeing today are very attractive and create a situation in which, even if the entire failed bank's portfolio fell to $0, losses to the acquirer can be relatively minimal," the firm says.

Because of this, bidding for failed banks is becoming more competitive, FBR Capital notes, but it feels the opportunities will be plentiful, however, likely outstripping the number of healthy banks in a position to participate in the auctions.

"We believe that there are currently not enough 'good' banks to buy the 'bad' banks and that, therefore, private equity groups and other pools of investors will likely remain involved with FDIC-assisted acquisitions," the note reads. Around 150 banks have failed so far this year, and there were more than 400 names included the last time the FDIC released its list of 'problem' institutions in late August.