Bank Earnings: Bad News for Bears

In this video, Motley Fool financial analyst Matt Koppenheffer discusses this earnings season, and why the trends we see coming from the big banks' reports have been bad news for banking bears. He talks about Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) and how it's moving in the right direction despite a lower net interest margin, and discusses US Bancorp (NYSE: USB  ) , which faced some similar challenges to Wells Fargo, but was able to improve the quality of its loan portfolio overall. He also highlights a couple of other banks where the earnings picture wasn't that bad, and where the stocks only suffered as a result of investor expectations being too high. This is an overall good sign for the bank recoveryl.

Wells Fargo's dedication to solid, conservative banking helped it vastly outperform its peers during the financial meltdown. Today, Wells is the same great bank as ever; but with its stock trading at a premium to the rest of the industry, is there still room to buy, or is it time to cash in your gains? To help figure out whether Wells Fargo is a buy today, I invite you to download our premium research report from one of The Motley Fool's top banking analysts. Click here now for instant access to this in-depth take on Wells Fargo.