It's been quite a few months for the banking sector. Three large banks were seized by regulators, and now investors are looking at the industry under a completely different framework.
However, most banks still have ample levels of liquidity and capital, and with so much fear surrounding the sector, many bank stocks have been painted with a broad brush and sold off. While these kinds of environments are difficult, they also create some real opportunities. Here are three top bank stocks to buy in June.
1. JPMorgan Chase
Looking for a port in a storm? Then look no further than JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.06%), the largest bank by assets in the U.S. The bank and its fortress balance sheet can operate in just about any environment, which makes it a rarity in a cyclical sector. JPMorgan's stock is up about 5% this year, which compares favorably to most bank stocks and indexes.
The key to JPMorgan's success is its thriving consumer and community bank (CCB) and corporate and investment bank (CIB). When rates rise, JPMorgan's CCB tends to take off, while CIB tends to take off in a lower interest rate environment balancing each other out nicely and making the bank resilient.
During this recent banking crisis, JPMorgan showed just how much consumers, businesses, and corporations trust the brand, capturing roughly $50 billion of deposit inflows as customers rushed to the bank in a flight for safety.
JPMorgan also has an extremely strong balance sheet. Despite seemingly getting higher regulatory capital requirements each year, management is able to optimize the balance sheet and build capital to a point where it can meet regulatory requirements while still returning capital to shareholders. The bank believes -- and has thus far proven -- it can generate a strong 17% return on tangible common equity in any environment.
2. Regions Financial
The $154 billion asset Regions Financial (RF 0.05%), based in Birmingham, Alabama, has taken advantage of its attractive Southeastern banking markets and developed what looks to be the strongest and most resilient low-cost deposit base in its peer group. The key seems to be that 70% of Regions' deposits are in retail deposits, with 75% of the bank's total deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Additionally, many of Regions' lower-balance customers have seen wage growth in recent years, making them much stronger financially.
In the first quarter of the year, Regions grew its net interest margin (NIM), which is essentially the difference between what the bank makes on its interest-earnings assets, such as loans, and pays out on its interest-bearing liabilities, such as deposits, from 3.99% to 4.22%.
While this is a high range for the bank's NIM, and it will likely fall as the year progresses, management has a hedging strategy in place that they say will allow the bank to maintain a NIM between 3.6% and 4% in just about any rate scenario, which is still very respectable. I also suspect it will be toward the higher end of that range when everything is said and done.
3. Cullen/Frost Bankers
One of the reasons to like the roughly $51 billion asset San Antonio-based Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR -3.30%) is due to the bank's large, roughly 18% cash position, which is helpful if it needs to cover deposit outflows because the bank can do so without taking too much of a hit. Cullen/Frost also did a good job of not investing too much liquidity in its held-to-maturity bond portfolio, bonds the bank intends to hold until they fully mature.
Cullen/Frost has also so far done a good job of managing its funding costs and NIM, which rose 16 basis points (1 basis point= 0.01%) in the first quarter, and management expects NIM to stay mostly flat the rest of the year, both of which are impressive in this intense rising-rate environment.
Credit quality at the bank also looks good. Expected loan losses rose slightly in the quarter, but overall the bank's loan book looks quite healthy, and management seems to have a good handle on its office loan book.
