I've been bullish on the value potential of Wilshire Bancorp (NASDAQ:WIBC)
for some time, but thought that investors would have to be patient to
see the real value come through. I suppose another six months is
exceedingly patient for some investors, but I was surprised to see the
strong 30%-plus move in the shares since my last article. That performance beats peers like Hanmi (NASDAQ:HAFC) and BBCN (NASDAQ:BBCN) by a healthy margin, as well as the KBW Regional Banking (NYSEARCA:KRE) index.
At
this point, I'm less bullish on Wilshire Bancorp shares. I like the
bank's move into residential mortgage originations, as I believe this
will be a solid fee/gains-generating opportunity. I also like the
company's leverage to higher rates and further expansion to
Korean-American communities outside of its core Southern California
market. All of that said, I think the risk and potential reward are in
much closer balance now, and it's no longer as appealing for value
hounds in the banking sector.
Continue here:
Mortgages And Rates Can Drive Growth, But Wilshire Bancorp Has Had A Good Run
No comments:
Post a Comment