U.S. Bancorp's (NYSE:USB) Credit Metrics Improve in Last Quarter

Commenting on the recent quarterly earnings report from U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), FBR said their biggist takeaway from that, and with other banking reports so far, is the improvement in credit metrics.

FBR says, "The company reported GAAP EPS of $0.49, ahead of both FBR and consensus expectations of $0.47 and $0.46, respectively. Our biggest takeaway from 4Q earnings, as with most banks to date, was marked improvement in credit metrics. NCOs decreased 11% to $1B, and NPAs fell 5% to $3.6B, as credit quality improved across all loan categories. Improving credit trends drove a modest reserve release of $25M, which is the first reserve release for the company. Losses will likely moderate in the coming quarters as both early- and late-stage delinquencies fell in 4Q. We continue to find USB's core franchise attractive, and we expect the diverse revenue stream and low-cost deposit base to help offset regulatory pressures to earnings moving forward."

FBR Capital maintains an "Outperform" rating on U.S. Bancorp (USB), which was trading at $26.47, down $0.05, or 0.19 percent, as of 12:40 PM EST. FBR has a price target of $28 on UBS.