Hancock Whitney Performing Well As The Economy Starts To Reopen

 

I liked Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) (“Hancock”) back in February of this year, seeing not only self-improvement potential in a bank that had admittedly underperformed heading into the pandemic, but also a “get better or get bought” safety net under the story. Since then, the company has performed quite well through the ongoing operating challenges all banks are facing, delivering two more quarters with meaningful pre-provision profit beats and operating leverage.

These shares are up another 18% or so from my last write-up, handily beating the near-flat performance of the larger regional banking index (KBW National Regional Bank Index). Even with that outperformance, I still see further upside here, as the Street not only isn’t giving credit to the ongoing operating leverage improvements and better-than-average loan growth, but also the possibility that these improvements are just the beginning and Hancock could achieve higher longer-term ROEs and ROTCEs.

 

Read the full article here: 

Hancock Whitney Performing Well As The Economy Starts To Reopen