The Dividend Daily

Stifel Nicolaus has upgraded financial services company, Bank of America Corp(BAC) to a “Buy” on Monday.

The firm has upgraded BAC from a “Hold” to a “Buy,” and has given the company a price target of $11. This price suggests a 15% increase over the stock’s current price of $9.32.

An analyst at the firm, believes that due to bank’s position in the market, it is expected to have results much better than its competition in the next two years. The analyst believes that BAC will see EPS growth by 30% in 2014, compared the the rest of the big banks, only expecting to increase their EPS growth by 5%.

The analyst commented, “we believe that without the declining expense base lever that BAC possesses, many banks are likely to post stagnant/modest EPS growth over the next two years as net interest margin pressures continue and loan loss provisioning inflects,” Mutascio comments. “BAC is actually better positioned for the current environment than many banks that have already bled the loan loss reserves dry, have little exposure to mortgage origination and debt underwriting in the low interest rate environment, and have no material expense reductions on the horizon.”

Looking ahead, the firm expects BAC to see EPS of 41 cents in 2012, 92 cents in 2013, and $1.20 in 2014.

Bank of America shares were up 19 cents, or 2.08% during premarket trading Monday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Bank of America (BAC) have a .44% dividend yield, based on Friday’s closing stock price of $9.12. The stock has technical support in the $8 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $10 price level.

Bank of America Corp(BAC) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.