Regions Financial "underperform," estimates reduced

04/05/05 - Raymond James

NEW YORK, April 5 (newratings.com) - Analyst John A Pandtle of Raymond James reiterates his "underperform" rating on Regions Financial Corporation (RF), while reducing his estimates for the company.

In a research note published yesterday, the analyst mentions that there is limited visibility into the company's near-term revenues. According to the analyst, Regions Financial's earnings are likely to be adversely affected in the near future by an increase in reinvestment costs on account of the company's various improvement initiatives. Raymond James believes that Regions Financial's stock is overvalued at the current levels, given the company's below-average EPS growth. The EPS estimate for 2005 has been reduced from $2.58 to $2.40.