Bank of America stock rallies after analyst says it's time to buy

Shares of Bank of America Corp. /zigman2/quotes/200894270/composite BAC +1.18% rose 1.1% in premarket trading Tuesday toward an 11-month high, after Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz turned bullish, citing expectations that the bounce off the third-quarter bottom in net interest income will be bigger than expected. Horowitz raised his rating to buy from neutral and his stock price to $37 from $31; the stock hasn't closed at or above $37 since October 2008. He said he believes BofA is one of the largest beneficiaries of the return of capital to shareholders (stock repurchases and dividends), which should resume next quarter. "[BofA] is also more levered to consumer, which we think will perform better this credit cycle given the stimulus programs," Horowitz wrote. The stock has run up 28.8% over the past three months through Monday, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF /zigman2/quotes/209660484/composite XLF +1.90% has climbed 21.6% and the S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.95% has gained 7.5%. Horowitz also upgraded PNC Financial Services Group Inc. /zigman2/quotes/203416310/composite PNC +2.25% and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. /zigman2/quotes/200171276/composite BK +0.60% to buy from neutral.