Stock Markets
Piper Sandler cuts First Bank stock target to $15, maintains Overweight
On Wednesday, Piper Sandler adjusted its stance on First Bank (NASDAQ:), reducing the price target to $15 from the prior $16 while sustaining an Overweight rating on the stock. The adjustment follows First Bank’s first-quarter earnings report for 2024, which showed earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50. When accounting for a Bank-Owned Life Insurance (BOLI) death benefit and normalizing the tax rate, the core EPS was calculated at $0.45. This core figure surpassed both the analyst’s and the consensus estimates by $0.03.
The report highlighted that a negative provision recognized in the quarter was the main variance from the forecast, contributing $0.06 to the EPS. This was somewhat balanced by a $0.01 decrease in net interest income (NII) and a $0.01 rise in operating expenses. Consequently, pre-provision net revenue (PPNR) fell short of expectations by $0.02.
The bank’s financial results for the first quarter of 2024 included an unexpected benefit from the BOLI death benefit, which influenced the reported earnings. However, when this one-time factor was excluded, the core earnings still outperformed the anticipated results. The negative provision taken was not anticipated in the initial models and served as the key difference from the projections.
Piper Sandler’s revised price target reflects the latest financial figures and the bank’s performance in the quarter. Despite the adjustments made in the financial modeling, the firm continues to hold a positive view on First Bank’s stock, as indicated by the Overweight rating.
The new price target of $15 indicates Piper Sandler’s valuation expectation for First Bank’s shares following the recent earnings report and the bank’s current financial position. The Overweight rating suggests that the firm expects the stock to outperform the average return of the stocks covered in the sector over the next 12 to 18 months.
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InvestingPro Insights
In the wake of Piper Sandler’s price target adjustment for First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA), InvestingPro data and insights offer additional context for investors considering the bank’s stock. With a market capitalization of $309.23 million and a P/E ratio that has adjusted to a more attractive 11.48 based on the last twelve months as of Q4 2023, First Bank appears to be positioned for potential growth. The bank also boasts a solid operating income margin of 39.08%, reflecting efficient management and profitability.
InvestingPro Tips suggest a positive outlook, noting that net income is expected to grow this year, with analysts predicting profitability. This is further supported by three analysts revising their earnings upwards for the upcoming period, which may signal confidence in the bank’s financial trajectory. Additionally, the bank has been profitable over the last twelve months, reinforcing the positive sentiment.
For investors seeking more in-depth analysis, there are additional InvestingPro Tips available, which can be explored further at https://www.investing.com/pro/FRBA. To enhance your investing strategy with these expert insights, use the coupon code PRONEWS24 to get an additional 10% off a yearly or biyearly Pro and Pro+ subscription.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.
By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -Thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday against Emmanuel Macron’s decision to pick centre-right politician Michel Barnier as prime minister, with leftist parties accusing the president of ignoring election results.
Macron named 73-year-old Barnier, a conservative and the former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, as prime minister on Thursday, capping a two-month search following his ill-fated decision to call a legislative election that delivered a hung parliament.
“Democracy is not only the art of knowing how to accept victory, but the humility to accept defeat,” Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the far-left France Unbowed party (LFI), told protesters at the start of the march in eastern Paris.
“I call on you to undertake a long battle.”
The organisers said about 300,000 people demonstrated peacefully across France, including 160,000 in Paris, although police in the capital said 26,000 people had protested in the city.
The Interior Ministry did not immediately give a figure for the entire country, but its numbers are usually much lower than those given by organisers.
Barnier meanwhile made his first official visit, meeting staff at a Paris hospital. The worsening condition of the public health sector has been one of the areas that people have demanded action after months of procrastination.
“Without carrying out miracles, we can make improvements,” Barnier, who lacks a clear majority, told reporters.
He said on Friday he wants to include conservatives, members of Macron’s camp, and some from the left in his future government.
But he faces the daunting task of trying to drive reforms and pass the 2025 budget with the threat of a no-confidence vote hanging over him at the start of October, when he is due to outline his policy objectives to parliament.
DENIAL OF DEMOCRACY
France is under pressure from the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, and from bond markets to reduce its deficit.
The left, led by LFI, has accused Macron of a denial of democracy and stealing the election, after Macron refused to pick the candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance that came top in the July vote.
Barnier’s centre-right Les Republicains party is only the fifth bloc in parliament with less than 50 lawmakers, and the left believes he will push wholesale spending cuts and a tougher stance on immigration.
Across 130 locations in France, people carried banners attacking Macron for betraying them and called on him to be impeached.
“He (Barnier) has no social conscience and will constitute a government which will be in the same line as the previous ones. So that is enough now,” civil servant Jeanne Schmitt, 45, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Paris march.
Pollster Elabe published a survey on Friday showing that 74% of French people considered Macron had disregarded the results of the elections, with 55% believing he had “stolen” them.
Barnier continued consultations on Saturday as he looks to form a government, a tricky job given he faces a potential no-confidence vote.
NFP and the far-right National Rally (RN) together have a majority and could oust the prime minister through a no-confidence vote should they decide to collaborate.
The RN gave its tacit approval for Barnier, citing a number of conditions for it to not back a no-confidence vote, making it the de facto kingmaker for the new government.
“He is a prime minister under surveillance,” RN party leader Jordan Bardella told BFM TV on Saturday. “Nothing can be done without us.”
CAIRO (Reuters) -Three Lebanese paramedics were killed and two others wounded, one critically, in an Israeli attack while they were extinguishing fires in the southern town of Faroun, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Saturday.
“Israeli forces targeted a team from the Lebanese Civil Defence as they responded to fires sparked by recent Israeli airstrikes,” a ministry statement said, specifying that the strike hit a fire truck.
It condemned the attack as a “blatant strike” on an official Lebanese state apparatus, marking the second such attack on an emergency team in less than 12 hours.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Hezbollah issued a statement late on Saturday, saying they launched a “squadron of missiles” in response to the attack, targeting the headquarters of Israel’s 91st Division, which is responsible for its northern border, “hitting offices and soldiers with precision.”
The intensity of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has ratcheted up steadily, displacing tens of thousands of people on either side of the Lebanese-Israeli frontier.
The conflict erupted after Hamas launched an attack on Israeli territory on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages into the Gaza Strip. Since then, Hezbollah has been drawn into cross-border clashes in southern Lebanon.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A political adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has rejected recent allegations that employees at the premier’s office have been spying on and wire-tapping senior officials and politicians.
Since late August, Iraqi local media outlets and lawmakers have alleged that employees at Sudani’s office had been arrested on charges of spying on senior officials.
“This is an inflated lie,” said Fadi al-Shammari in an interview with an Iraqi broadcaster published late on Friday, the most explicit denial by a senior member of the prime minister’s team.
He said the allegations were aimed at undermining Sudani ahead of parliamentary polls expected to be held next year.
“Everything that has happened in the last two weeks consists of media exaggeration contrary to reality and the truth.”
The reports have caused a stir in Iraq, which has seen a period of relative stability since Sudani was brought to power in late 2022 as part of an agreement between ruling factions ending a year-long political stalemate.
While there had been one arrest at the prime minister’s office in August, it had nothing to do with spying or wire-tapping, Shammari said. The employee in question was detained after contacting lawmakers and other politicians while posing as a different person, he said.
“(He) talked to lawmakers using different numbers and fake names and asked them for a number of different files,” he added, without providing details.
“There was no spying, no wiretapping.”
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