What happened
For the week, shares of Customers Bancorp (CUBI -1.08%) traded 10.5% higher after market close Thursday for no obvious reason other than the broader rally among crypto, bank, and tech stocks this week.
So what
Customers Bancorp is a roughly $19 billion asset bank headquartered in Pennsylvania that specializes in a number of niche lending verticals and banking businesses.
Customers runs a number of specialty banking lines, including healthcare financing and venture capital banking. The bank also offers a number of digital consumer and commercial lending businesses. It has also recently launched a real-time payments system primarily to better facilitate crypto trading between institutional investors and crypto exchanges.
Despite good performance, Customers Bancorp has sold off intensely this year along with other tech, banking, and crypto stocks.
But in June, the bank provided a mid-quarter update in which it reaffirmed its full-year guidance of $4.75 to $5 in core earnings. Management also said it had grown deposits by more than $1 billion in the second quarter, which is likely due to its real-time payments system, which attracts clients with large sums of low-cost deposits.
Customers also said it expects to grow its tangible book value, or net worth, to $40 by the end of the year. Banks trade relative to their tangible book value.
Now what
The rise this week is likely linked to the favorable trends in the broader market. But this is a stock that I own and that I like.
Considering the attractive business lines they are running and the returns they are generating, the stock is far too cheap, in my opinion, to be trading right around tangible book value. The company reports earnings next week. I would rate the stock as a buy.
