Jefferies lifts financial stock rating to overweight from market weight

Jefferies equity strategist Steven G. DeSanctis on Tuesday lifted the firm's rating on financial stocks to overweight from market weight in a reaction to bearish sentiment around the sector and the prospect of higher interest rates. "Sentiment is downright awful," he said. "When flows are this bad, the group rebounds and delivers better than average performance." The sector offers cheap valuations currently and may be helped by GDP growth of 4% next year. "We think '22 earnings numbers are very conservative and should move up, keeping the revision ratios above average," DeSanctis said. M&A activity remains at record levels and could boost performance. Among the stocks in the group, Jefferies spotlighted Ares Management /zigman2/quotes/202624618/composite ARES -0.89% , Carlyle Group /zigman2/quotes/200142014/composite CG -1.98% , First Cash Inc. /zigman2/quotes/208051748/composite FCFS -3.68% , Hancock Whitney /zigman2/quotes/208577715/composite HWC -1.21% , LPL Financial /zigman2/quotes/202092656/composite LPLA +0.03% , OneMain Holdings /zigman2/quotes/202909976/composite OMF +3.05% , Signature Bank /zigman2/quotes/204403715/composite SBNY -1.23% , SLM Corp. /zigman2/quotes/205828282/composite SLM -0.98% , Sterling Bancorp /zigman2/quotes/206493117/composite STL +0.80% , Western Alliance Bancorp /zigman2/quotes/206020866/composite WAL -0.32% and Wintrust Financial /zigman2/quotes/207938027/composite WTFC -0.53% . The SPDR Regional Banking ETF is up 30.9% so far this year, compared to a rise of 16.6% by the S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -1.22% .

/zigman2/quotes/202624618/composite

Add to watchlist ARES

Ares Management Corp.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 71.99

-0.65 -0.89%

Volume: 731,218

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

36.90

Dividend Yield

2.61%

Market Cap

$20.81 billion

Rev. per Employee

$2.54M

/zigman2/quotes/200142014/composite

Add to watchlist CG

Carlyle Group Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 47.09

-0.95 -1.98%

Volume: 1.48M

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

5.98

Dividend Yield

2.12%

Market Cap

$17.13 billion

Rev. per Employee

$4.38M

/zigman2/quotes/208051748/composite

Add to watchlist FCFS

FirstCash Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 68.31

-2.61 -3.68%

Volume: 231,248

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

21.80

Dividend Yield

1.76%

Market Cap

$2.87 billion

Rev. per Employee

$93,491

/zigman2/quotes/208577715/composite

Add to watchlist HWC

Hancock Whitney Corp.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 53.76

-0.66 -1.21%

Volume: 494,882

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

10.24

Dividend Yield

2.01%

Market Cap

$4.73 billion

Rev. per Employee

$235,979

/zigman2/quotes/202092656/composite

Add to watchlist LPLA

LPL Financial Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 159.75

+0.05 +0.03%

Volume: 670,133

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

28.11

Dividend Yield

0.63%

Market Cap

$12.80 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.52M

/zigman2/quotes/202909976/composite

Add to watchlist OMF

OneMain Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 52.41

+1.55 +3.05%

Volume: 1.54M

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

4.99

Dividend Yield

5.34%

Market Cap

$6.68 billion

Rev. per Employee

$593,132

/zigman2/quotes/204403715/composite

Add to watchlist SBNY

Signature Bank

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 310.31

-3.86 -1.23%

Volume: 1.11M

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

20.65

Dividend Yield

0.72%

Market Cap

$18.10 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.40M

/zigman2/quotes/205828282/composite

Add to watchlist SLM

SLM Corp.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 17.17

-0.17 -0.98%

Volume: 2.82M

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

4.83

Dividend Yield

2.56%

Market Cap

$5.08 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.38M

/zigman2/quotes/206493117/composite

Add to watchlist STL

Sterling Bancorp

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 27.75

+0.22 +0.80%

Volume: 1.26M

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

13.44

Dividend Yield

1.01%

Market Cap

$5.31 billion

Rev. per Employee

$721,886

/zigman2/quotes/206020866/composite

Add to watchlist WAL

Western Alliance Bancorp.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 110.63

-0.35 -0.32%

Volume: 756,360

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

13.38

Dividend Yield

1.27%

Market Cap

$11.56 billion

Rev. per Employee

$928,721

/zigman2/quotes/207938027/composite

Add to watchlist WTFC

Wintrust Financial Corp.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 97.92

-0.52 -0.53%

Volume: 432,769

Jan. 25, 2022 4:00p

P/E Ratio

12.91

Dividend Yield

1.27%

Market Cap

$5.61 billion

Rev. per Employee

$347,251

/zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime

Add to watchlist SPX

S&P 500 Index

US : S&P US

4,356.45

-53.68 -1.22%

Volume: 3.06B

Jan. 25, 2022 5:04p