13 Mar Citi says it’s time to buy PNC shares after Silicon Valley Bank fallout
There’s a big buying opportunity in PNC Financial shares, according to Citi. Analyst Keith Horowitz upgraded PNC shares to buy from hold. He reiterated his price target of $175, implying more than 27% upside from Friday’s close price. Shares were further down 5.3% on Monday before the bell. “PNC is a high quality franchise with a strong management team and given the recent pullback we view this as an attractive entry point,” Horowitz wrote in a note on Monday. The analyst added that the regional bank “has a number of positives including larger benefit than most peers on fixed asset repricing tailwinds, screens well on our fair value analysis, clean asset quality, and strong deposit base.” Bank stocks are under pressure after the Silicon Valley Bank failure. On Sunday, regulators unveiled a plan to backstop depositors with money at the bank. But, while the losses in the sector were broad, Citi thinks that banks with “strong diversified deposit franchises and clean asset quality” will be winners going forward. To be sure, Horowitz noted: “While this announcement will prevent significant market share shifts, the risk remains on the margin of continued market share shifts to the very large banks and will be an overhang on smaller banks until proven otherwise.” PNC shares fell almost 11% during the prior trading week. The stock has declined 14% in 2023 and plunged 25.2% during the past 12 months. PNC 1Y mountain PNC stock —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.