Trading at a still very cheap 9.9 times estimated 2021 earnings, this pick looks very reasonable in what remains a volatile stock market and in a sector that has dramatically lagged.

Citigroup stock investors receive a 2.83% dividend. Morgan Stanley’s price target of $91 is well above the $84.21 consensus target. Shares closed on Friday at 72.35. The report is expected on Thursday the 14th.

JPMorgan

This stock trades at a still reasonable 12.0 times estimated 2021 earnings. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is one of the leading global financial services firms and one of the largest banking institutions in the United States, with about $2.6 trillion in assets. The company as it is today was formed through the merger of retail bank Chase Manhattan and investment bank J.P. Morgan.

The firm has many operating divisions, including investment and corporate banking, asset management, retail financial services, commercial banking, credit cards and financial transaction services.

Top analysts are very positive on JPMorgan, largely because the industry titan faces a continued broad recovery in nearly every aspect of its business. It has a leading M&A advisory and capital markets product set and market share. It has a massive footprint of corporate and commercial banking customers. And it has a sizable wholesale payments businesses. The bank has proven that it has the wherewithal to invest continually in people, products, and platforms to further its market share base, extending its competitive advantage versus most peers.

Investors receive a 2.35% dividend. The Goldman Sachs price target is $182, and the consensus target for JPMorgan stock is $170.58. The shares closed at $170.22 on Friday. The bank’s report is due on Wednesday the 13th.

Morgan Stanley

This is one of Wall Street’s white-glove firms, and it may be among the best buys among the banking and investment stocks. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global investment bank with leading positions in investment banking (M&A and equity underwriting), equity trading and wealth management, which contributes nearly 50% of firmwide revenues. The firm also has an asset management business, which adds to the lower-risk business profile the firm has pursued since the financial crisis.

Last year, this Wall Street investment bank agreed on a $13 billion purchase of discount brokerage E-Trade. With 5.2 million customers, it was once a revolutionary platform that “helped usher in a dramatic shift among financial services firms” and fueled the rise of indexes and exchange-traded funds, making investing vastly easier for do-it-yourself investors.

Investors receive a 2.83% dividend. The $119 Jefferies price target is well above the most recent close for Morgan Stanley stock at $100.04 a share. Look for the report on Thursday the 14th.

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It is always a bit riskier to buy shares in front of the numbers, and very conservative investors may want either to wait for the results or to buy smaller partial positions. With some solid tailwinds for the rest of the year, not the least of which could be rising interest rates, and a continued reopening of the economy, all these stocks make sense for growth investors with a longer timeframe.