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 +2.01% , Carlyle Group /zigman2/quotes/200142014/composite CG +1.36% , First Cash Inc. /zigman2/quotes/208051748/composite FCFS -0.46% , Hancock Whitney /zigman2/quotes/208577715/composite HWC +2.18% , LPL Financial /zigman2/quotes/202092656/composite LPLA -0.66% , OneMain Holdings /zigman2/quotes/202909976/composite OMF +0.63% , Signature Bank /zigman2/quotes/204403715/composite SBNY +5.08% , SLM Corp. /zigman2/quotes/205828282/composite SLM +1.25% , Sterling Bancorp , Western Alliance Bancorp /zigman2/quotes/206020866/composite WAL +1.88% and Wintrust Financial /zigman2/quotes/207938027/composite WTFC +1.61% . 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 +1.05% .

/zigman2/quotes/202624618/composite

Add to watchlist ARES

Ares Management Corp.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 84.66

+1.67 +2.01%

Volume: 824,416

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

95.78

Dividend Yield

2.88%

Market Cap

$24.12 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.66M

/zigman2/quotes/200142014/composite

Add to watchlist CG

Carlyle Group Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 36.46

+0.49 +1.36%

Volume: 3.42M

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

7.62

Dividend Yield

3.57%

Market Cap

$13.08 billion

Rev. per Employee

$3.24M

/zigman2/quotes/208051748/composite

Add to watchlist FCFS

FirstCash Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 91.76

-0.42 -0.46%

Volume: 208,908

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

21.06

Dividend Yield

1.44%

Market Cap

$4.27 billion

Rev. per Employee

$145,963

/zigman2/quotes/208577715/composite

Add to watchlist HWC

Hancock Whitney Corp.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 52.60

+1.12 +2.18%

Volume: 688,037

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

8.77

Dividend Yield

2.28%

Market Cap

$4.41 billion

Rev. per Employee

$396,296

/zigman2/quotes/202092656/composite

Add to watchlist LPLA

LPL Financial Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 235.55

-1.57 -0.66%

Volume: 675,518

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

30.22

Dividend Yield

0.42%

Market Cap

$18.87 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.42M

/zigman2/quotes/202909976/composite

Add to watchlist OMF

OneMain Holdings Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 43.41

+0.27 +0.63%

Volume: 1.25M

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

5.73

Dividend Yield

8.75%

Market Cap

$5.27 billion

Rev. per Employee

$577,727

/zigman2/quotes/204403715/composite

Add to watchlist SBNY

Signature Bank

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 135.50

+6.55 +5.08%

Volume: 1.90M

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

6.52

Dividend Yield

2.07%

Market Cap

$8.11 billion

Rev. per Employee

$2.00M

/zigman2/quotes/205828282/composite

Add to watchlist SLM

SLM Corp.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 17.79

+0.22 +1.25%

Volume: 1.49M

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

5.79

Dividend Yield

2.47%

Market Cap

$4.40 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.67M

/zigman2/quotes/206020866/composite

Add to watchlist WAL

Western Alliance Bancorp.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 76.79

+1.42 +1.88%

Volume: 1.31M

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

7.92

Dividend Yield

1.88%

Market Cap

$8.21 billion

Rev. per Employee

$939,567

/zigman2/quotes/207938027/composite

Add to watchlist WTFC

Wintrust Financial Corp.

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 92.94

+1.47 +1.61%

Volume: 477,377

Feb. 1, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

11.62

Dividend Yield

1.72%

Market Cap

$5.56 billion

Rev. per Employee

$421,443

/zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime

Add to watchlist SPX

S&P 500 Index

US : S&P US

4,119.21

+42.61 +1.05%

Volume: 0.00

Feb. 1, 2023 4:53p