US Bancorp (USB)

crfrank76 (81.94) Submitted: 2/03/07 10:15 PM : Start Price: $32.71 USB Score: 31.65

No alarms and no surprises.

Dividends galore, good value. They seem willing to deal with their issues. Merger hiccups cost the stock in the late 90s, by the early 2000s, they turned themselves into one of the most efficient of the large banks. Credit quality questions followed, which they've corrected in a tough interest rate margin environment. They've struggled with revenue growth lately, and that's the new focus. On the retail side, they seem focused on building from the core - buying small banks within the footprint and growing traditional markets with the PowerBank initiative.

A lot of pitches mention USB as a take-over target. As the 6th largest bank (by assets) in the country, I don't see a lot of buyers out there. Wells-Fargo is in almost all of the same markets, so doesn't make sense and Wachovia seems focused elsewhere. The other players are probably either too large or too small to buy USB. I suppose a large foreign bank could give it a shot.....

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