Regions Financial Corp (RF)

The recent merger with Amsouth will save on costs. Also this stock has been unjustifiably punished for the subprime mortgage crisis. It has some exposure to the Florida real estate market, but it is primarily in Northern Florida where the real estate market is not quite as overbuilt as in South Florida. This bank has operations throughout the Southeast where the real estate market has not been affected as badly as other parts of the country.

If we knew where Dowd Ritter and his family were spending their July 4 holiday celebrations we would double down short or long!
We do not so we will place our bets according to the Federal Reserve interest rate party instead.....long...with options.

Time will tell how profitable this POS will be....

Priceless when $17,700 of the $396,396,172,916 money spent makes the newspapers front page and Cramers #1 wall of shame!

"Worst Possible Business Model

Minyanville Professor Bennet Sedacca is writing about the business model of Keycorp and other banks. Let's tune in.

More on KEY and Others

What could be the worst possible model?

When a company pays out its entire EPS in dividends and then goes to market with a 9% preferred. Then it RAISES the common dividend. Come on!! Then it announces deteriorating fundamentals. Who is it?

Keycorp (KEY), Fifth Third (FITB), Regions Financial(RF) and Wachovia (WB).

What should they be doing?

Cut the dividend, lay people off and sell common equity while they can. If not, it could be curtains."
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

Look at the footnote on the 10-Q. Their loan values are, according to the market, worth $22.8B less than is stated on their balance sheet. Shareholder equity is just $18.7B.

In other words, by mark-to-market rules they would be insolvent.

Regions Financial is a bank holding company that operates primarily in the southeastern U.S., with operations consisting of banking, brokerage and investment services, mortgage banking, insurance brokerage, credit life insurance, commercial accounts receivable factoring and specialty financing. The company's banking subsidiaries operate more than 1,300 offices and 1,600 ATMs in 16 states in the South, the Midwest, and Texas.

The third quarter of 2006 saw strong net income earnings of 77 cents per share, 3% higher than the previous quarter of the same year. The net interest income for the same period increased 8.9% compared to third quarter of 2005 primarily due to a favorable balance sheet positioning combined with a favorable shift in the mix of earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Morgan Keegan, Regions' investment banking division, had a good quarter contributing 30% of the total non-interest income, but is more volatile due to huge capital market exposure. Though the bank derives 40% of it income from fee-based sources like brokerage and investment banking its fortune greatly depends on the interest rate spread and movements. The credit quality of the bank with NPA’s of 0.52% has improved marginally and is far from satisfactory.

The recent merger with Amsouth Bancorp to form Regions Financial Corporation is an all-stock deal, comes at no premium with expected annualized merger cost saves of $400 million. Moreover the deal is also expected to generate about $1 billion excess capital a year with more opportunities of reinvestment and make it the number four bank in Florida. Though the fundamentals of the bank looks good, the chances of a double-digit growth look dull and with projections of stable growth in the coming year

Regions is the largest regional bank in the southeast. Their recent acquisition of Morgan Keegan investments has given them an avenue to organic growth in the broker side of the business.

After a rash of acquisitions over the past 4 years, Regions is poised to realign and improve margins to become a powerhouse in the banking world.

A conservative southern bank with very little subprime exposure, they sold that part of the banking operation during their recent makeover. Regions is yielding over 6%, are you kidding me. Regions may slow down EPS growth because their customers are hurt with a US slowdown, but as their CEO said in last conf call, when they raised dividend, "Regions has very little subprime exposure if any", and the green signs are going up all over the south.
RF will be fine, and probably be an easy 30% over the next 12-24 months, including that fat 6% yield.

As of January 2008, RF is undervalued, with excellent dividend yield over 6%. RF has a long history of increasing dividend payouts for many years. Regions is concentrated in the Deep South, a part of the nation with a growing economy. Regions has little or no subprime exposure, but its price has dropped with the rest of the banks, making it a real bargain stock with good earnings growth long term. The Amsouth merger has been completed, so those costs are in the past and that merger is now accretive to earnings.

I have held this stock for years. While it is boring and it does not fluctuate much, it has its moments. It is a solid dividend payer and I expect to hold it for many more years to come. Granted, there is the chance of a buyout but I am a loyalist.

regional powerhouse; well-run bank; acquired multiple banks over last 10 years; finally has the presence to compete with big banks in the region it operates; i expect am south transition to go smoothly based on their past experience; the earnings will raise and it is matter of time for the stock price to follow

BUY, BUY AND BUY SOME MORE...the Feds don't approach a FAILED BANK to buy more banks..the pros, the insiders and rich are buying this stock..so why don't you...I have. Buy and sell in dips..or hold for the long haul and wake up one day and see your PF rewarded. This is a no branier win-win stock for the short and long term...under or outperform who cares when the price will triple and even further...just wait and close your eyes and get richer.

Regional bank with nice growth characteristics. Add on the pleasant dividend and you have a nice long-term pick.

Dividends, and valuation

near bottom of financial mess. Will pull through and beat market after credit crunch ends + 2 quarters or so. Dividend helps. Possible future takeover target after the market stabilizes. Also a safe bet for very long term if a recession leads to a bear market of over 2 years due to the dividend and likely shift of bear focus from financials to elsewhere if a recession does arrive.

This is a definite HOLD on my part. I put real money in at $4.00 the other day (unfortunately, missed this dip), but I think this stock is ridiculously beaten down due to sentiment. Momentum down was due to poor stock offering result and bandwagon bears, but this stock is showing heavy resistance around the $4.00 mark. Definitely a stock to take long as only a couple weeks ago it was over $7.00/share. Even with the dilution, I am hoping to reach $6 by fall. I think if big money gets involved, this stock could take off. Again, I have real money invested in this.

Short sellers and panic selling has hammered this stock

Earnings will be back on track after small adjustment to sub-prime and Morgan Keegan mutual funds.

Dividends will continue to grow. Stock has been has beat down and may retreat some lower due to the general market for financials. These levels offer a buying opportunity.

The stock missed out the financial sector rally during the second quarter of 2009. RF's fundamentals are not as bad as other financial institutions whose stocks have outperform S&P500 during the past six month. It's just a matter of time... I sense that adjustment period is coming soon. RF will bounce back and outpace S&P500 and the rest of the financial sector.

It is well received by area users. Works well with small business operations.