Barclays Maintains an 'Underweight' on Comerica (CMA); 3Q11 EPS Review: Margin Pressured

Barclays maintains an 'Underweight' on Comerica (NYSE: CMA) price target cut $4 to $40.00.

Barclays analyst says, "CMA's 3Q11 results exceeded our expectations ($0.51 vs. $0.48), primarily driven by lower-than-expected expenses and higher-than-anticipated securities gains. These factors combined to offset a significantly lower-than-guided net interest margin (3.18% vs. guidance of 3.35-3.40% for 2H) and net interest income. Legacy loan growth remained flat and the outlook seemed to provide little near-term relief. For 4Q11, CMA updated its outlook to reflect a net interest margin assumption of 3.15% while calling for increased expenses and lower noninterest income, pushing our EPS estimates lower."

"We are trimming our 4Q11 EPS estimate by $0.03 to $0.44 to better reflect the challenging margin environment while maintaining our full-year 2011 target of $2.05. For 2012, we are reducing our full-year estimate $0.10 to $2.20, incorporating expectations for muted 1H12 loan growth and a lower than previously model net interest margin."

For more ratings news on Comerica click here and for the rating history of Comerica click here.

Shares of Comerica closed at $23.13 yesterday.

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