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Charlotte, North Carolina-based Truist Financial Corporation (TFC) is one of the largest commercial banks in the U.S. With a market cap of $56.4 billion, the bank operates through Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Corporate Other segments.
The banking giant has substantially outperformed over the past year. TFC is up 24.9% over the past 52 weeks, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 18.5% gains over the same time frame. In 2024, TFC gained 8.5% compared to SPX’s 12.1% return on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, TFC has also outperformed the S&P Regional Banking ETF SPDR’s (KRE) 2.9% decline on a YTD basis and 4.8% returns over the past 52 weeks.
Shares of Truist rose 3.2% after the release of its Q2 earnings on July 22. It reported a better-than-expected quarter, outperforming the EPS estimates by 8.3% to $0.91 while witnessing a 6.9% quarterly growth in interest income. However, the stock saw a steep decline in the last trading sessions following the release of unemployment data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which unsettled investors and affected markets worldwide.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect Truist to report an EPS decline of 1.1% year over year to $3.55. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It beat the consensus estimate in three of the past four quarters while missing the projections on one other occasion.
Among the 23 analysts covering TFC stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” That’s based on nine “Strong Buy” ratings, three “Moderate Buys,” 10 “Holds,” and one “Strong Sell.”
This configuration is slightly less bullish than two months ago, with 10 analysts advising a “Strong Buy.”
On Jul. 24, Citi (C) analyst Keith Horowitz downgraded Truist to “Neutral” and set a price target of $47, citing lower-than-expected earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 due to a lack of net interest income guidance.
Truist’s mean target price of $46.38 represents a premium of 10.1% to current price levels. The Street-high target of $51 indicates a potential upside of 21.1% from current price levels.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
