Earnings Setup: Top Seven Banks | BAC, C, JPM, TFC, PNC, USB & WFC
- Jun 21
- 7 min read
June 22, 2026 | The 100 large financial stocks tracked by Whalen Global Advisors in our Bank Top 50 rankings have been quiet much of the year, but began to move significantly higher in the past six weeks. Over the last year, financials ranked 10th on the Fidelity Research Sector tool, up just over 6%. But in the past 30 days, financials jumped to second behind the industrial sector and ahead of the information technology sector, aka “AI.” Click on the image below to see the updated chart on Yahoo.com.
Source: Yahoo Finance (06/19/26)
As it has been over the past couple of years, Citigroup (C) continues to lead the top seven group in terms of equity market performance, but lags looking at key financial metrics. Meanwhile, as we've predicted, PNC Financial (PNC) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) are taking leadership positions in the group based on improving financial performance.
Citi reminds us of loanDepot (LDI) in the mortgage space, namely a momentum driven stock that outperforms the group and always hopes for improved fundamentals. Make no mistake, we give CEO Jane Fraser kudos for the improvements in the business model, but asset returns and operating leverage can still improve, as we discuss below. Notice how many banks in the top seven have efficiency ratios below 60% in Q1 2026.
Source: FFIEC
It may be time to do a transformative deal Jane. But please, let us do nothing like the 2019 BBT + Suntrust fiasco, which has given us five years of misery in the form of Truist Financial (TFC). Look where pre-fiasco BBT traded before the 2019 close of the Suntrust merger -- over 2x book. Now TFC trades below Citi and even BAC in terms of book value multiple, a striking commentary on the post-deal performance of TFC management and the board. Really?
Source: Yahoo Financial (0621/26)
The servicing on our fixed rate conventional mortgage just got sold to TFC by Freedom Mortgage, so we’ll be keeping close tabs on the bank. Below we provide readers of the Premium Service of The Institutional Risk Analyst with a detailed look at the top seven depositories in the US – BAC, C, JPM, PNC, TFC, USB and WFC – and talk about how the business models of these money center banks are evolving through time. We introduce a new chart that illustrates the relative importance of the fee generation side of the bank ledger.
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