Wells Fargo Upgrades Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) to Equal Weight

Wells Fargo analyst Chris Spahr upgraded Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL) from Underweight to Equal Weight with a price target of $79.00 (from $83.00).

The analyst comments: "For someone who has only been in the role for 2 mnths, he seemed to know the #'s well, articulated them in a way that shows experience from 2 decades at JPM, and reassured about current reserves for the type of asset-based loan exposures that caused new loan losses. Yet, we lower our PT to $79, still may need to take another look at our #'s (lowered earlier), and still have concerns about $3B of pvt credit loans (vs. tang common equity of $7B). WAL had an unforeseen loss and, as they said, that's why they keep excess capital. Yet, WAL said it is trying to "contain" the earnings impact w/actions in ALM (securities sale), efficiency (cost saving plan), and new growth. To us, this deliberately mitigates the impact of a short-term earnings hiccup w/ factors that are medium-to-longer term strategies. To us, WAL seems to be managing for outcomes, possibly at the expense of economic value."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Western Alliance Bancorporation click here. For more ratings news on Western Alliance Bancorporation click here.

Shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation closed at $73.91 yesterday.

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