FBR Capital Resumes Coverage on Northeastern Banks and Thrifts (SBNY, HCBK, AF, MTB, more...)

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SBNY Hot Sheet

Rating Summary:
7 Buy, 7 Hold, 0 Sell

Rating Trend:

Up

Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 16 | Down: 7 | New: 23

FBR Capital resumes coverage on Northeastern Banks and Thrifts. The firm said, " While every company's exposures are unique, we are bearish in our general credit outlook. We expect continued growth in residential real estate, as well as commercial loan losses into 2010 and for losses to remain elevated at least through 2011. Accordingly, we favor those companies with solid capital bases, conservative underwriting, and reasonable valuation.

Outperforms:

Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), $30 price target. Cites strong capital levels, the potential for margin expansion, lower exposure to loan losses.
Hudson City Bancorp (Nasdaq: HCBK), $15 price target. Cites strong capital levels, the potential for margin expansion, lower exposure to loan losses.

Underperforms:

Astoria Financial (NYSE: AF) - Cites high loan loss estimates and thin capital levels
M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) - Cites shares' premium valuation relative to near-term earnings power and thin capital
New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYB) - cites valuation.
Webster Financial (NYSE: WBS) - loan loss estimates, coupled with thin capital levels.

Market Performs: