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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Community Bank System, FB Financial Corporation and The Bancorp
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – September 31, 2020 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Community Bank System, Inc. (CBU - Free Report) , FB Financial Corporation (FBK - Free Report) and The Bancorp, Inc. (TBBK - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
3 Bank Stocks with Low Debt Exposure to Consider
The coronavirus outbreak in mid-March disrupted business activities globally. To date, many industries have to face difficulties because of the uncertain economic environment.
Some companies within industries like retail and restaurants even had to file for bankruptcy because of lack of business. Although now the lockdown has been lifted in most of the countries and companies have started to resume work, the economic crisis that ensued the pandemic is not expected to end anytime soon.
Like all industries and sectors, the banking industry had to bear the brunt of the pandemic. In the first half of this year, majority of the banks reported significantly higher provisions because of fears related to the pandemic and the economic slowdown, which adversely impacted their earnings.
As business activities came to a grinding halt, the lending scenario was also not great. Along with muted loan growth, near-zero interest rates have been other negatives for banks. Because of such low rates, banks’ interest income and net interest margins (one of the key metrics for gauging profitability) have been adversely impacted to an extent.
In fact, the situation worsens if banks have significant debt exposure. For banks that use relatively high amounts of debt to finance their operations, it becomes difficult to survive if the economic situation deteriorates significantly as they will not be able to make timely interest payments.
However, for banks with relatively lower debt exposure, surviving amid the current crisis becomes easier. Banks that do not have any significant amount of debt maturing in the near term or have total debt less than their current cash balance are less likely to default even if the economic situation worsens.
Thus, although banks are facing difficulties amid the current economic crisis, there are some banks with low debt exposure that remain good investment options.
Bank Stocks Worth Considering
With the help of the Zacks Stock Screener, we have selected three stocks from the banking sector that investors can consider despite the ongoing crisis. These stocks have a total debt to total capital less than their respective industries. Also, their current times-interest-earned ratio is higher than the industry average.
Community Bank System: The company provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial and municipal customers. Headquartered in DeWitt, NY, the company has a market cap of more than $3.2 billion.
As of Jun 30, 2020, its total debt stood at $269.3 million, significantly lower than the cash and cash equivalents balance of $1.32 billion. Its total debt to total capital at the end of second-quarter 2020 was 4.6% compared with the industry’s 31.9%. Its current times-interest-earned ratio of 37.5 is above the industry average of 6.2.
FB Financial Corp.: Headquartered in Nashville, TN, the company, which provides various commercial and consumer banking services, has a market cap of $847.2 million.
As of Jun 30, 2020, its total debt stood at $362.5 million, lower than the cash and cash equivalents balance of $717.6 million. Its total debt to total capital at the end of the second quarter was 4% compared with the industry’s 31.9%. Its times-interest-earned ratio of 19.5 is above the industry average of 6.2.
The Bancorp: The company, headquartered in Wilmington, DE, has a market cap of $524.1 million and offers banking products and services. As of Jun 30, 2020, its total debt was $54.1 million, while its cash and cash equivalents balance stood at $480.7 million. Also, its total debt to total capital at the end of the second quarter was 9.2% compared with the industry’s 31.9%. Its times-interest-earned ratio of 28.1 compares favorably with the industry’s 6.2.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through Q2 2020, while the S&P 500 gained an impressive +44.0%, five of our strategies returned +50.9%, +93.8%, +122.2%, +153.0%, and even +156.8%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – Q2 2020, while the S&P averaged +5.5% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +51.7% per year.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Community Bank System, FB Financial Corporation and The Bancorp
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – September 31, 2020 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Community Bank System, Inc. (CBU - Free Report) , FB Financial Corporation (FBK - Free Report) and The Bancorp, Inc. (TBBK - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
3 Bank Stocks with Low Debt Exposure to Consider
The coronavirus outbreak in mid-March disrupted business activities globally. To date, many industries have to face difficulties because of the uncertain economic environment.
Some companies within industries like retail and restaurants even had to file for bankruptcy because of lack of business. Although now the lockdown has been lifted in most of the countries and companies have started to resume work, the economic crisis that ensued the pandemic is not expected to end anytime soon.
Like all industries and sectors, the banking industry had to bear the brunt of the pandemic. In the first half of this year, majority of the banks reported significantly higher provisions because of fears related to the pandemic and the economic slowdown, which adversely impacted their earnings.
As business activities came to a grinding halt, the lending scenario was also not great. Along with muted loan growth, near-zero interest rates have been other negatives for banks. Because of such low rates, banks’ interest income and net interest margins (one of the key metrics for gauging profitability) have been adversely impacted to an extent.
In fact, the situation worsens if banks have significant debt exposure. For banks that use relatively high amounts of debt to finance their operations, it becomes difficult to survive if the economic situation deteriorates significantly as they will not be able to make timely interest payments.
However, for banks with relatively lower debt exposure, surviving amid the current crisis becomes easier. Banks that do not have any significant amount of debt maturing in the near term or have total debt less than their current cash balance are less likely to default even if the economic situation worsens.
Thus, although banks are facing difficulties amid the current economic crisis, there are some banks with low debt exposure that remain good investment options.
Bank Stocks Worth Considering
With the help of the Zacks Stock Screener, we have selected three stocks from the banking sector that investors can consider despite the ongoing crisis. These stocks have a total debt to total capital less than their respective industries. Also, their current times-interest-earned ratio is higher than the industry average.
For all the three stocks, which currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), their total debt is less than their cash balance. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Here are the stocks worth betting on:
Community Bank System: The company provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial and municipal customers. Headquartered in DeWitt, NY, the company has a market cap of more than $3.2 billion.
As of Jun 30, 2020, its total debt stood at $269.3 million, significantly lower than the cash and cash equivalents balance of $1.32 billion. Its total debt to total capital at the end of second-quarter 2020 was 4.6% compared with the industry’s 31.9%. Its current times-interest-earned ratio of 37.5 is above the industry average of 6.2.
FB Financial Corp.: Headquartered in Nashville, TN, the company, which provides various commercial and consumer banking services, has a market cap of $847.2 million.
As of Jun 30, 2020, its total debt stood at $362.5 million, lower than the cash and cash equivalents balance of $717.6 million. Its total debt to total capital at the end of the second quarter was 4% compared with the industry’s 31.9%. Its times-interest-earned ratio of 19.5 is above the industry average of 6.2.
The Bancorp: The company, headquartered in Wilmington, DE, has a market cap of $524.1 million and offers banking products and services. As of Jun 30, 2020, its total debt was $54.1 million, while its cash and cash equivalents balance stood at $480.7 million. Also, its total debt to total capital at the end of the second quarter was 9.2% compared with the industry’s 31.9%. Its times-interest-earned ratio of 28.1 compares favorably with the industry’s 6.2.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through Q2 2020, while the S&P 500 gained an impressive +44.0%, five of our strategies returned +50.9%, +93.8%, +122.2%, +153.0%, and even +156.8%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – Q2 2020, while the S&P averaged +5.5% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +51.7% per year.
See their latest picks free >>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.