Benzinga | Nov 1, 2021 12:48PM EDT

Why This Bank Of America Analyst Is Turning Bearish

With Bank of America Corp's (NYSE:BAC) stock having appreciated through most of 2020 and in early 2021, there seems to be limited upside and market expectations are "quite high," according to Baird.

The Bank of America Analyst: David George downgraded Bank of America from Neutral to Underperform with an unchanged $42 price target.

The Bank of America Takeaways: Although the company has executed well, there are other stocks with higher rate leverage, potential for capital return and "more modest market expectations," George said in the downgrade note.

"The prospects for higher rates in the mid- to longer end of the yield curve have excited bank investors, and there is increasing divergence among names that have deployed this liquidity over the last couple of quarters," the analyst said.

"After aggressively deploying liquidity the last quarter or two, BAC ranks among the lower names on our list from a relative liquidity perspective, especially when compared to pre-covid levels in Q419."

BAC Price Action: Shares of Bank of America were trading near-flat at $47.79 midday Monday.