Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Investopedia: Simpler Looks Better For First Horizon

It was all too common during the bubble years that began almost a decade ago to see quality community or regional banks de-prioritize their traditional businesses to reach for the fool’s gold offered by riskier lending. Very few of those stories had happy endings, and many ended like First Horizon National (NYSE:FHN), where the bank saw significant lending losses, putbacks, and the need to raise fresh capital to stay in business.

Now things are settling down and getting back closer to normal. First Horizon has retrenched around its core operations and is looking to reduce its non-strategic lending activity, while also looking to make the most of its sizable market share in Tennessee. The only real drawback to the story, aside from the risk of higher putbacks, is the fact that valuation already anticipates quite a lot of improvement.

Please follow the link to continue reading:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/050613/simpler-looks-better-first-horizon-fhn-sti-rf-bac-usb-fitb.aspx

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