NYCB stock cheapest among US lenders with over $3 billion in assets, S&P Global says

(Reuters) – New York Community Bancorp was the cheapest U.S. bank stock among lenders with more than $3 billion in assets for the second straight month, an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence showed on Wednesday.

The evaluation based on adjusted tangible book value (TBV) showed that as of April 30, the troubled lender was trading at 30% of the metric that indicates the per-share value of its equity after excluding its intangible assets.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

The bank has been struggling to stem a stock rout that has wiped billions off its value since January when it cut its dividend and reported a surprise quarterly loss tied to its loan exposure to distressed commercial real estate.

Its shares have so far this year lost 64% of their value and were trading at levels last seen in 1996.

Last week, the lender reported a first-quarter loss and said it will report an annual loss much bigger than estimates due to higher provisions for potential loan loss.

KEY QUOTE

“The company still needs to execute on its strategic plan to increase diversification and become a higher performing regional bank with long-term sustainable profitability,” analysts at Morningstar DBRS had earlier this month said.

BY THE NUMBERS

NYCB’s adjusted TBV of 30% is followed by First Foundation and HomeStreet at 35.7% and 45.7%, respectively, according to S&P.

Citigroup was the only big bank in the top 20 at 71.9%. The third-largest U.S. lender recently finished restructuring its lending-to-trading business to improve its profitability and valuation.

Earlier this month, NYCB said it was trading at about 0.42 times its fully converted tangible book value, much lower than the 1.48 times multiple for banks with assets between $100 billion and $250 billion.

The lender, which had $112.90 billion in total assets as of March 31, said it aims to close the valuation gap over time.

MARKET REACTION

The lender has been subject to a slew of downgrades by ratings agencies since January. The latest by Fitch is its third downgrade to the bank’s credit rating, which pushed its stock down 4% on Wednesday.

The agency cited weaker earnings coupled with the execution risk associated with its recently unveiled restructuring plan.

GRAPHIC

(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)