Wells downgrades Regions Financial to Underweight on guidance miss

Wells Fargo downgraded Regions Financial (RF) to Underweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $30. The firm sees a downward bias to estimates following Regions’ “weak-than-expected” guidance. Now is not the time to buy the “most plain vanilla regional banks unless they are a takeover target or have extras,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. Wells believes the guidance by Regions for worse than expected fees and net interest income “reinforces this point.” It believes “goliath is winning” in the bank group.