Bank Of America Corporation Stock Hold Recommendation Reiterated (BAC)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a hold with a ratings score of C . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income and generally higher debt management risk.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 181.86% to $9,298.00 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, BANK OF AMERICA CORP has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -171.10%.
• The gross profit margin for BANK OF AMERICA CORP is currently very high, coming in at 76.20%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Despite the strong results of the gross profit margin, BAC's net profit margin of 1.40% significantly trails the industry average.
• BANK OF AMERICA CORP has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, BANK OF AMERICA CORP continued to lose money by earning -$0.02 versus -$0.38 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.42 versus -$0.02).
• Although BAC's debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50 is very high, it is currently less than that of the industry average.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Diversified Financial Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 94.5% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $6,232.00 million to $340.00 million.

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services to individual consumers, small-and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. Bank of America has a market cap of $102.28 billion and is part of the financial sector and banking industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.8, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 70.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

You can view the full Bank of America Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

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