We will be paying extra attention to the money center banks of Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).  We will also be watching the bank holdings companies without any bank operations from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). On the trust bank side and fiduciary side, there is Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and also Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS).

We have shown the most recent closing prices, added in the Thomson Reuters consensus price target objective, and added in a 52-week trading range.  We have then shown the tangible book value and/or the stated book value, depending upon what was available from each bank.  The book values were taken from January press releases as of the end of 2011, but a couple had to be taken from ycharts.com as they did not report their stated book values.  You will see some of the banks still trade at healthy discounts to their book value and to their tangible book values, while others now trade at premiums again.

Read Also: Tempered Expectations Going Into Earnings Season

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) recently closed at $8.93, its Thomson Reuters consensus target is currently $9.79, and the 52-week trading range is $4.92 to $13.64. The company most recently noted that its tangible book value per share was $12.95 at December 31, 2011, compared to $12.98 at December 31, 2010. The stated book value per share was $20.09 at December 31, 2011, compared to $20.99 at December 31, 2010.

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) recently closed at $23.34, its Thomson Reuters consensus target is currently $25.67, and its 52-week range is $17.10 to $30.29.  The bank most recently noted that its book value was $27.62 at the end of 2011, down slightly from the $27.79 at the end of the third quarter but up from $26.06 at the end of 2010.  On a tangible book value per share, that figure was $10.57 at the end of 2011 versus $10.55 at the end of the third quarter and up from $8.91 at the end of 2010.

The new Abbot Downing service might not exactly easily sum up the bank’s efforts in its name.  The new website noted that it “serves a small number of individuals and families, as well as their endowments and foundations, to help preserve and grow assets while building legacies across generations.”  In short, it aims to go after the uber-rich whose assets may last well beyond the current generations of living relatives.

Abbot Downing will fall under Wells Fargo’s Wealth, Brokerage & Retirement group.  The target seems to be those families with assets of $50 million and more in investable assets.  While clients can likely come from any location in the U.S., the website lists sixteen cities where it has offices even though the offices fall under regional managing directors who are in other offices.

The main focus of Abbot Downing is tailored financial solutions which assign one relationship manager with each manager serving a limited number of relationships.  If you just won the lottery over the weekend, you better interview this group or one of its competitors.

JON C. OGG

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has seen targets raised this morning by Oppenheimer to $700 and by UBS to $675; see the strange downgrade from Thursday.

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Cut to Neutral at Wedbush.

Coach. Inc. (NYSE: COH) Raised estimates and target to $83 from $75 at Credit Suisse; Started as Buy with $90 target at Argus.

Corn Products International Inc. (NYSE: CPO) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) Cut target to $29 from $30 at Jefferies.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Raised to Buy with $39 target at Argus.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Neutral with $49 target at BofA/ML.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

SBAC Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) named as Top Pick at Credit Suisse.

Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

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JON C. OGG

We have compiled basic earnings previews and shown Thomson Reuters estimates from the following: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT); Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK); U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB); Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS); American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF).

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates have been coming down more than just marginally ahead of the expected earnings report.  It is no longer expected to have the name “Golden Slacks” attached as a nickname right now.  The current target is $1.24 EPS on $6.54 billion in sales, but the earnings targets were above $2.00 EPS recently and the street expected almost $3.00 just about 90 days ago.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the consensus estimate for the trust and custodial bank is expected to rise about 8% to $0.94 EPS.  Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates are $0.53 EPS and $3.75 billion in revenues.  We will be waiting to see if any of the charges to trust and custodial customers taking the cash holdings operations to a cost rather than as an interest bearing account will have made a difference.  That seems to have gone away but it may have just been lost in the shuffle.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday morning.  The estimates are $0.63 EPS on $4.76 billion in sales.  Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is also due Wednesday morning and estimates are $0.68 EPS and $972.3 million.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is due on Thursday after the close and earnings estimates are $0.98 EPS and $7.92 billion in sales.  As with the rest of the lenders and credit cards, we expect to hear continued improvements in credit metrics regarding the customer base.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is due to report on Thursday morning.  The most unpopular of the big ‘too big to fail’ money-center banks in America, has a consensus earnings estimate of $0.23 EPS on $24.08 billion in revenues.  This has been the best DJIA stock so far in 2012 even including the last two trading sessions.  It is a bit more than just interesting that earnings estimates have ratcheted higher over the last ten days when estimates elsewhere have been cut so much in banking.  The huge discount to book value is again likely to be less material than in years passed.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is set to report on Thursday morning as well.  Long gone is worrying about the relative book value and long gone is the comparison to Goldman Sachs.  Estimates are for a loss at -$0.57 EPS and $5.57 billion in revenues.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) is due to report earning on Thursday and this is the credit card bank “for the rest of America.”  The earnings report could be wildly far off of estimates because the bank is in the process of acquisitions which could greatly skew the headline numbers.  A fresh SEC filing showed that monthly data showed a continued improvement in default rates and in late payments in December. The consensus estimate is $1.55 EPS and $4.08 billion in sales.

JON C. OGG

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Raised to Neutral with $57.00 price target objective by Goldman Sachs.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was given an outrageous prediction as a possibility of a 50% correction by Saxo Bank.
CAI International Inc. (NYSE: CAP) named as the value stock of the day at Zacks Investment Research.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Enduro Royalty Trust (NYSE: NDRO) Started as Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse after yesterday’s weakness but the report noted “We would NOT be buyers on weakness right now.” Also on InterMune, Canaccord Genuity reiterated a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $23.00 per share.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Meritor, Inc. (NASDAQ: MTOR) Maintained as Underperform and named the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN) Started as Buy with a $16.50 price target objective at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets; maintained Hold at Needham; maintained Neutral at Credit Suisse; Lower target by Deutsche Bank; maintained Hold and lowered target to $15 at Canaccord Genuity.
Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) resumed with an Equal Weight rating and a $35.00 price target objective at Morgan Stanley.

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Crain’s Chicago Business is highlighting a CEO presentation yesterday at the Barclays Capital Global Financial Services Conference investor conference, and the publication also made the reminder that Northern closed three branches in Chicago and cut some jobs in Europe earlier this year.  The CEO discussed how the bank expected a better economy and higher interest rates, but admitted that now the outlook for rates remains low for two more years.  Rick Waddell, CEO of Northern Trust, said that the bank will be releasing details of its cost cutting measures early in 2012.  When banks of any sort announce cost cuts, this almost always includes a headcount reduction even though the CEO said that this was a combination of revenue AND expense initiatives.

The return on equity in the banking sector has been under pressure due to such low net interest margins and other metrics, but if the rates are going to remain low like for two more years then what hope is there?

Where these cuts will come is anyone’s guess as the bank is into investment management, asset and fund administration, banking solutions and fiduciary services. As of June 30, 2011, its banking assets were listed as $97 billion, assets under custody were $4.4 trillion, and assets under investment management were $684.1 billion.  Northern Trust is based in Chicago, but it has offices in 18 states and 16 international locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) has had a rough 2011.  At $35.75, its 52-week trading range is $34.68 to $56.86 and its market capitalization is now back down to $8.6 billion.  The drop in the stock price has also given this an accidentally high yield of 3.1%, and it should be noted that the current $0.28 quarterly dividend rate has been the same dividend since December 2007.

Here is the saddest thing of all… Look at the 5-year chart.  Northern Trust is currently trading in line with its prices during the late-2008 market panic and under the early-2009 market panic levels.

JON C. OGG

What is interesting is that the opinion of how bad this will ultimately be can vary greatly from source to source. Our guess is that if you asked ten different members of the top brass at BofA what they thought their ultimate mortgage exposure is, you would probably get ten very different answers.

It turns out that Barron’s noted some of the banks trading close to book value, or under book value, this last weekend.  We have previously noted that both Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) are both trading under book value but that still has not prevented a slide in the stocks.  That might not matter if that book value keeps getting eroded even as BofA remains profitable.

We have also seen how shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB), Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) have also mostly fallen since earnings season, but these are now all much closer to (or under) their implied book values reported with earnings.  Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) have also been under fire but these are now at much lower premiums to book value.

The pure-play for any bounce, if one is coming, in the banks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) ETF as it has the most exposure to the top banks in its tracking index.  The derivative tracking ETF is the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and it is the most leveraged and liquid of all leveraged bank ETFs with three-times the intraday moves.  Keep in mind that it does have tracking error if held over longer periods of time.

Sanford C. Bernstein’s John McDonald issued a report on the mortgage woes at Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) this week with an outlook of $27 billion in new mortgage-related losses through the end of 2013.  How much?  The Charlotte-based bank has already booked $46 billion in mortgage losses during the financial crisis.

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) beat earnings estimates with 8% growth this morning at $0.57 EPS versus Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.48 EPS. The bank cited reduced credit costs, expense controls, corporate loan growth, and more. Book value per common shares was listed as $33.25 as of March 31 and shares closed at $37.46 on Monday with a 52-week trading range of $33.11 to $45.85.

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB) missed earnings estimates by $0.03 EPS at $0.28 EPS versus estimates of $0.31 from Thomson Reuters.  The bank’s margin was 17 basis points wider from a year ago but three basis points narrower sequentially.  The bank said its interest rate spread and net interest margins were hit by the same factors affecting interest income.  Book value per share fell $0.02 sequentially to $12.67 per share, while tangible book value grew $0.03 sequentially to $6.94 per share.  Shares closed at $17.08 yesterday and the 52-week trading range is $14.40 to $19.33.

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) posted earnings of $0.61 EPS, down from $0.64 last quarter.  Net income was slightly lower sequentially and year over year at $151 million.  Return on average common equity was 8.9% versus 9.9% a year earlier and 9.1% a quarter earlier.  Northern Trust is often treated more like an asset manager than as a bank as you will see in book value comparisons: book value was $28.65 at the end of March, versus a close of $51.40 yesterday and versus a 52-week trading range of $45.30 to $58.37.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is not deemed as being of the same quality as many banks. The earnings were $0.01 EPS versus -$0.10 EPS expected as a loss at Thomson Reuters. The bank noted that delinquencies declined again, criticized and classified fell again, non-performing loans declined by 23%, charge-offs fell by 29%, net interest margin improved again, and non-interest expenses fell 8%.  Regions showed that its tangible book value per common share was $6.00 per share.  Shares closed at $6.98 on Monday and the 52-week trading range is $5.12 to $9.33.

Sterling Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBIB) reported a net loss of $370 thousand, which rounds up to $0.00 EPS.  That as $0.02 shy of the Thomson Reuters estimate of $0.02 EPS.  As this has a pending merger with Comerica it doesn’t really matter.  Book value per common shares was listed as $6.10 per share, well under its $8.76 price.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) managed to beat earnings by $0.02 with $0.88 EPS versus $0.86 expected from Thomson Reuters as revenues from operations grew about 10%.  The return on average common equity was 9.9% versus 10.0% in Q1-2010.  Tier 1 common was 17.5%, assets under management grew by more than 5% to $2.12 trillion; assets under custody and administration grew about 5% to $22.6 trillion. State Street is also treated differently than other banks due to its asset management and custodial role.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) beat earnings by $0.03 at $0.52 EPS versus the $0.55 estimate from Thomson Reuters.  Revenues rose over 4% to $4.52 billion, short of the $4.56 billion expected.  The bank saw a reduction in the provision for credit losses and it saw a small gain in the buy of First Community Bank of New Mexico. Average loan growth was 2.4% or 1.1% excluding acquisitions; non-performing assets fell 4.7%.  Book value rose by $0.47 to $14.83 per common share.  Shares closed at $25.56 Monday and the 52-week range is $20.44 to $28.94.

Book value comparisons are often a help, sometimes thay are not.  Some are trading relatively tight to book value while others are at substantial premiums.

 JON C. OGG

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) Started as Neutral at Macquarie.
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Raised to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
BioMed Realty Trust (NYSE: BMR) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Market Perform at William Blair; Cut to Hold at Wunderlich; Cut targets at Credit Suisse.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
PDI, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDII) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch
State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Neutral at Macquarie.

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JON C. OGG

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
ATP Oil & Gas (NYSE: ATPG) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.
CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) Started as Buy at Collins Stewart.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Hewitt Associates Inc. (NYSE: HEW) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Morgan Staley (NYSE: MS) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
VimpelCom (NYSE: VIP) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG