Best Days for Wells Fargo, Bank of America Shares Are Still Ahead

Financial stocks were flat in the first half, but are finally seeing lift-off this week due to a slew of stronger than expected second quarter earnings reports. Still, the best is yet to come, said Michael Lee, Managing Partner at Tiger Wealth Management. 'These banks have gone through so much over the past few years,' said Lee. 'It was a very tough environment from a trading standpoint and also from a lending standpoint with interest rates so low. To see them getting ahead of where the Street wants them right away is very encouraging.' The Financial Select Sector SPDR which tracks bank stocks is up 2.2% in the past week, while rising only 2.3% year-to-date. Among Lee’s favorite names is Wells Fargo, which is up 5.2% so far this year. The bank posted second quarter earnings of $1.03 per share Tuesday, meeting Wall Street analysts' expectations. Revenue for the latest period totaled $21.3 billion. While that was up from $21.1 billion last year, it fell short of analysts' forecast of $21.7 billion.