BofA sees three reasons to own Citizens Financial, upgrades to Buy

As previously reported, BofA analyst Ebrahim Poonawala upgraded Citizens Financial (CFG) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $65, up from $52, citing three reasons the firm sees to own the stock. First, the firm’s forecast implies 300-plus basis points of ROTCE improvement by 2028 to 14.6%, which it highlights as among the largest across its super regional bank coverage. Second, sees potential for “idiosyncratic and outsized” loan and revenue growth following franchise investments over the last few years. Third, rebounding bank M&A may lead to takeout optionality being priced into the stock, the analyst tells investors.