5 Opportunities for Regions Financial Investors

The Motley Fool's Austin Smith has a few questions for analyst Anand Chokkavelu about his recent research report on Regions Financial (NYSE: RF  ) . Specifically, he asks, what is the opportunity?

Anand's reply: "There are the banks who have done well throughout, and there are the turnaround situations. Regions Financial is firmly in the turnaround situation."

Trading below book value, much like competitors Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) , Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) , and Synovus (NYSE: SNV  ) , there is tremendous upside if Regions can turn around. But there is much risk for investors as well. 

Lowering funding costs, increasing loans as a percentage of deposits, and an improvement in the economy of the Southeast are all areas where Anand sees room for moderate improvement. Cost containment through technology is another area, one that Anand refers to as "show me, don't tell me." 

But the most important is reducing bad debt, and while Regions has made improvements, it still lags sector leaders in this important metric.

See more in the following video. 

With big finance firms including Regions Financial still trading at deep discounts to their historic norms, investors everywhere are wondering if this is the new normal, or whether finance stocks are a screaming buy today. Today's video only touches on one segment of the report, so to help figure out whether Regions Financial is a buy today, we invite you to read the rest of our premium research report on the company today. Click here now for instant access!