Raymond James on Wednesday downgraded three bank stocks and upgraded one ahead of the first-quarter earnings season. Bright spots for banks include improving loan growth, potential expansion in net interest income as interest rates rise, and benign credit trends. Challenges include tough comparisons in fee income businesses from mortgages and capital markets; also wage inflation and rising technology costs. Raymond James analyst Michael Rose downgraded Banc of California to market perform from outperform and upgraded Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. to outperform from market perform. PCB Bancorp was downgraded to market perform…
Source: Marketwatch