Truist stock worth buying as bank merger fixes itself, Barron’s says

Banks have had a tough 2023, and Truist Financial has suffered more than most. The company, though, is making big changes that could turn its stock into a winner, Jacob Sonenshine writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Truist is cutting costs selling or closing underperforming businesses and reducing the number of workers. At the same time, its sales, margins, and earnings growth are likely to hold up better than its peers partly because many of its fee-based businesses, such as insurance, are growing this year, the author says. All this for a valuation that resides near the bottom of the banking sector and with a dividend that is substantial enough to pay investors to wait for a turnaround, the publication adds.