UBS Remains Bullish Following Citizens Financial Group's (CFG) 2016 Expense Outlook
UBS reiterated a Buy rating on Citizens Financial Group (NYSE: CFG), and cut the price target to $27.00 (from $28.00), following the company's 2016 expense outlook. CFG's outlook for a ~3% expense increase in 2016 weighed heavily on the stock Friday, and the guidance was about 100 bps higher than UBS' forecast.
Analyst David Eads commented, "CFG's outlook for a ~3% expense increase in 2016 weighed heavily on the stock Friday, and the guidance was about 100 bps higher than our forecast. However, the revenue growth outlook is slightly better than expected, and more importantly, the expectation for 3-5% operating leverage next year looks highly attractive compared to peers. This means the pressure to deliver on revenues is high, especially fee revenues, but as long as CFG can show progress on this front we expect sentiment will improve meaningfully on their earnings growth potential."
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Shares of Citizens Financial Group closed at $20.78 yesterday.