Goldman: Financial Winners and Losers
(
Updated with final stock price moves, CIT pre-packaged bankruptcy report.
)
NEW YORK (
) --
Goldman Sachs
(GS) - Get Report
was among the winners of the financial sector Wednesday after separate analysts raised full-year earnings estimates and stock price targets for the bank.
Goldman Sachs finished higher after a choppy session after Keefe, Bruyette and Woods analyst Robert Lee raised his full-year 2009 earnings estimate for the bank to $17.58 a share from $16.31 and his 2010 estimate to $18.80 a share from $16.90. Lee said the revisions reflect higher asset values and somewhat better asset management and investment banking revenues. He also raised his stock price target for Goldman to $215 from $195.
Credit Suisse also boosted its price target and earnings estimates for Goldman. The firm raised their stock price target to $210 from $180 and upped their 2009 full-year estimate to $19 a share from $17.25, citing robust trading results.
Goldman Sachs shares spent time in positive and negative territory before finishing the day higher by 77 cents, or 0.4%, at $184.35.
Meanwhile, KBW's Lee offered a mixed view on
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Report
, lowering his 2009 earnings estimate to a loss of $1.14 a share from a loss of 90 cents while raising his 2010 full-year view to a profit of $3.30 a share from $3.20. Lee said the lower 2009 estimate is a result of somewhat lower trading revenue.
Credit Suisse increased its stock price target for Morgan Stanley to $30 from $20 while lowering its full-year 2009 estimate to a loss of 61 cents a share from a loss of 20 cents a share, reflecting a variety of headwinds including the continued work-downs of legacy real estate exposures and losses from the tightening credit spreads.
Morgan Stanley shares finished lower by 21 cents, or 0.7%, to $30.88.
Among other analyst moves, Rochdale Securities analyst Dick Bove said in a research note that
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
shares are a buy despite multiple negatives for the bank.
Bove argued that JPMorgan CEO
will leave the bank in two to three years after word Tuesday that Jes Staley, the company's head of asset management and a 30-year veteran at the firm, would take over as CEO of the bank's prestigious investment bank division. "At this point, Mr. Dimon will be free to explore options in government," Bove wrote, adding that "If Mr. Dimon leaves it is a negative."
Bove also said government may have gutted the bank's ability to grow beyond recovering its past peak earnings, making it a very uninteresting place to be, and that near-term earnings are "questionable given the likelihood of high loan losses in the third and fourth quarters."
JPMorgan shares fell $1.06, or 2.4%, to end the day at $43.82.
In other news involving management changes,
(HIG) - Get Report
on Tuesday named Liam McGee, the former
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
head of consumer banking, as the insurer's new chairman and CEO. McGee, who left BofA in August after nearly 20 years with the bank, will take on his new role Thursday.
Hartford shares slid 94 cents, or 3.4%, to close at $26.50. Bank of America shares were down 24 cents, or 1.4%, to $16.92.
Elsewhere,
(CIT) - Get Report
shares plummeted 45% to $1.21 after
Reuters
reports that the embattled lender's debholderswill be offered the option to either exchange their debt voluntarily or face a pre-packaged bankruptcy, according to sources close to the matter.
The debt exchange would allow the finance company's bondholders to swap their securities for new debt or equity, the
Reuters
report said.
Earlier,
CNBC
reported that a committee of bondholders is actively working with CIT Group, and that an announcement is expected late Thursday or Friday.
-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York
.
