We are upgrading our recommendation on Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) to Outperform. We are encouraged to see the aggressive credit management efforts by the company and expect it to experience an improvement in credit quality in the upcoming quarters.
The company’s third quarter earnings were a nickel ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results were driven by better-than-expected growth in revenues but were impacted substantially by the company’s strategic actions to reduce credit risk.
Though challenging economic conditions along its footprint and the recent regulatory issues are expected to remain an overhang going forward, we expect the company’s diverse revenue stream, opportunistic expansions and cost containment measures to support its earnings.
FIFTH THIRD BK (FITB): Free Stock Analysis Report
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