Benzinga | Oct 7, 2020 01:56PM EDT

BofA Upgrades US Bancorp On Headwinds Giving Way To Tailwinds

Although US Bancorp's (NYSE:USB) payments related businesses were severely hit by the pandemic, a recovery in activity indicates a strong rebound, according to BofA Securities.

The US Bancorp Analyst: Erika Najarian upgraded US Bancorp's stock from Underperform to Neutral, while raising the price target from $39 and $41.

The US Bancorp Thesis: The company's credit and debit card fees, corporate payments product revenues, and merchant processing services are poised to rebound in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 from the second quarter's lows, Najarian said.

"Moreover, both origination volumes and gain on sale margins remain robust, and we project $563mn of mortgage banking revenues in 3Q20, which USB could potentially outperform," she wrote in the note.

Noting that US Bancorp's revenue momentum seems to be shifting, the analyst raised the earnings estimates for the third quarter to 63 cents per share and for the firth quarter to 86 cents per share, "mostly from increasing our projections from payments-related revenues and mortgage banking fees."

USB Price Action: Shares of US Bancorp had risen by 2.6% to $38.42 at the time of publication Wednesday.