Umpqua Holdings Corp (UMPQ)

Financial stocks carry a P/E ratio of 22.4, and the so-called "recovery" has been especially strong in bank stocks. Therefore, I’m concentrating my shorting interest in the banking sector.

Another institution that has garded against need for government financial bailout. This regional bank will be sought out by investors, in the future inflation period caused by federal reserve dollaar excesses, to make sound decisions and be a self supporting institution.

Umpqua came to my attention completely by accident while looking through bank stocks for investing. With the recent meltdown in the financial sector I thought I would do some digging and see if I could find a value nugget or two. I had never heard of this company before and it had never popped up for me in the past.

I live in the Midwest and have never been in an Umpqua bank as they are based out of Oregon and have bank locations in northern CA and WA. By description I understand that their locations resemble Internet Cafe's. This intrigued me so I continued to dig deeper into the company.

I was very surprised and pleased that they offer paid time off to their employees to allow them to volunteer their time in the community. This kind of effort always pays back with community goodwill which leads to new business.

On a last PR note, Umpqua was recently rated 34th in Fortunes "100 Best Companies to Work For". It was the only community bank to make the list and has appeared on this list for the last three years running.

Another factor that I find enticing is their recent (May 5, 08) addition of a new international banking division in their San Francisco commercial offices. They added a new executive (Anthony Oriti) with 30 years of international trade experience to head the division.

Any bank stock would not be complete without a TARP update. Umpqua did receive $214 Million in Oct, 08. However the CEO Ray Davis has repeatedly said from the start that the money was not required for survival. Umpqua was already well capitalized and did not need the infusion of cash. There are talks about returning the $214 Million back to the government due to the 'stigma' associated with the money, but no decision has been made as of yet. Since the money can be used for anything, they may decide to use the TARP money to buyout some smaller banks and expand into new communities. That last part, of course, is pure speculation.

To wrap up, I like the prospects of this regional bank. It's different in how it interacts with the customer base at their offices, they interact with the community, and management seems to be well grounded. The stock will most likely bump around quite a bit in 2009 as the banking industry sorts itself out, but 2010 should show steady gains as a leading bank in their region.

As an Oregonian, I can tell you that folks from the Northwest prefer to do business locally with a small player than a big bank from the east coast. With the implosion of Washington Mutual, UMPQ will gain marketshare. I believe the worst hits UMPQ will take are already priced into the stock.

March rally won't be sustained. Growth-adjusted PE is quite high compared to banking average.

umpq is greatly undervalued. it is sharing the bad news on the money center banks but it is a conservative bank who is in great position to to be the dominate bank in the pacific northwest.

Look at the loan portfolio...this stock is a zero.

I expect this stock to recover from these levels. Long term investors aren't looking to happy, but those looking to average down and those looking to ride the recovery should cause this stock to see higher levels in the next week if not days.

They just watched their number one competitor (WaMu) fall away, leaving the premium retail banking space (at least on the west coast) almost entirely in their hands. Solid organic growth in retail deposits, trading below book value.

mortgage investment/regional banks

Regional bank (my regional bank) set to do well in the aftermath of current environment. Customer driven service, decent reputation in the community, and a hidden gems pick I believe?

UMPQ has been lumped together with the bad banks. But judging by its lovely cash flow it is doing well which makes it very cheap. Their loss reserves may be too conservative so we could see a nice reversal in earnings when the recession is over.

SOUTHWEST & LATIN BANKING = GROWTH

5.80% yield, was a Stock Advisor pick as of 10/2007

anything Bank is depressed. This Bank seems to be doing well given the market. I expect it will shoot off once the sub-prime/housing depression is over.

Bank stocks are battered. This is a very innovative regional bank that is buffered from the majority of the mortgage problems.

little exposure to subprime mess. Made some loans to Sacramento-area builders who ran into trouble. Wrote them all down last quarter. Most importantly, I bank there and the tellers are really friendly.

I always wondered why the market was so unforgiving with Umpqua - they have a good reputation as a bank.

Goodwill comprises about 70% of Shareholder equity - making Net tangible only $482 MM ( 700 MM of goodwill).

NPAs are 1% of assets and climbing.....can easily go to 250-300 MM range and that would make it interesting.

They may survive.....but short term they are not safe. At least 2 quarters of Goodwill impairment will need to happen - wiping out all profitability.

Small regional bank with a solid balance sheet, minimal exposure to the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, great management team.