JPMorgan Continues To Outperform In A Tough Market

I really can't complain about how the market has been treating JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) this year. I've long thought this is one of the best-run large bank franchises, and the shares are up almost 20% from my last article - well ahead of the likes of Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), and PNC (NYSE:PNC). Not bad for a supposedly "sluggish" franchise, right?

I continue to be impressed with the combination of expense reduction, balance sheet shrinkage, credit quality, and loan growth that JPMorgan is delivering, and that's all in an environment that isn't especially conducive to bank profit growth. Weak rates remain a headwind and banks are clearly economically-sensitive companies, but nothing about JPMorgan's performance leads me to think that double-digit ROEs are an aggressive expectation if/when rates head back up. While the shares would look about 10% overvalued if those rate increases never come, I believe these shares remain undervalued below $71 to $72.

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JPMorgan Continues To Outperform In A Tough Market