MW Wells Fargo's stock rises as analyst proclaims 'good entry point' for investors

By Steve Gelsi

RBC Capital says Wells Fargo's stock is a good buy after the recent financial-stock selloff, but most bank stocks remain in the red

A fresh upgrade of Wells Fargo & Co. arrived Thursday, as the bank's stock bucked the financial sector's recent slide with modest gains.

RBC Capital analyst Gerard Cassidy boosted his rating on Wells Fargo' & Co.'s stock $(WFC)$ to outperform from sector perform and issued a price target of $80 a share for the San Francisco-based bank.

Cassidy said the recent selloff in bank stocks presents a buying opportunity for Wells Fargo after the stock has fallen into negative territory for the year.

Wells Fargo's stock rose 0.1%, even as the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index BKX dipped 0.2%. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. $(JPM)$ fell 0.25; those of $Citigroup Inc(C-N)$. (C) rose 0.7%; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares $(GS)$ dipped 1%; $Bank of America Corp(BAC-N)$. $(BAC.SI)$ shares dropped 0.1%; and Morgan Stanley $(MS)$ shares moved lower by 1.1%.

Wells Fargo continues to work on resolving its regulatory issues such as its asset cap, while increasing its profitability, RBC analyst Cassidy said.

"WFC is also well capitalized and is likely to see regulatory relief under the expectation of a less onerous regulatory environment," he said. "Lastly, theoptimization of expense levels is another driver of profitably for WFC."

About 80% of Wells Fargo's top 200 executives have joined the company since Chief Executive Charles Scharf started the job in 2019.

Management is now "focused on building a best-in-class bank that will deliver best-in-class shareholder returns" by optimizing costs, building up parts of the business and growing products that are light on its balance sheet, Cassidy said.

"Simply put, banks that can execute on day-to-day business plansas well as long term strategies will deliver above-average tangible bookvalue per share and dividend per share growth, which leads to longterm outperformance of shareholder returns, in our opinion," he said.

Wells Fargo's stock has fallen 6.9% in the past week, bringing its performance for the year to negative 1.7%.

-Steve Gelsi

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March 13, 2025 11:19 ET (15:19 GMT)

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