Regions Financial Rises Ahead of Results
NEW YORK (
) -- The stock of
Regions Financial
(RF) - Get Report
is surging ahead of its results announcement before the opening bell on Tuesday. The stock is up 5.6% at $7.02 as of Monday afternoon.
Last week, a clutch of large regional banks announced better-than-expected results following lower provisions for loan losses on the back of improving credit quality.
SunTrust Bank
(STI) - Get Report
which, like Regions Financial, is focused on the southeast, narrowed its losses to 11 cents a share. Analysts were expecting a loss of as high as 35 cents a share. The higher-than-expected improvement in credit quality in the southeast, which has been more vulnerable to problems in commercial real estate and construction, was a positive surprise to investors.
Rochdale Securities' banking analyst Richard Bove upgraded the stock of SunTrust to neutral from sell on Monday and raised its target price, sending the stock higher by 4.8%.
Now SunTrust's results appears to have triggered expectations of stronger-than-expected results from Regions Financial.
Analysts are expecting the bank to post a loss of 21 cents on revenues of $1.60 billion in the second quarter, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
-- Reported by Shanthi Venkataraman in New York.
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