Raymond James Downgrades Wells Fargo, $185 Million Fine Might Just Be Tip Of The Iceberg

The hits just keep coming for Wells Fargo & Co WFC. Raymond James is the latest firm to downgrade Wells Fargo stock in the wake of the bank's accounting fraud scandal.

According to analyst David Long, Wells Fargo isn't out of the woods yet.

“Several additional investigations, lawsuits and fines have been announced, and some clients have pulled business from Wells, making the ultimate financial impact difficult to predict,” Long explains. He believes Wells Fargo’s $185 million regulatory fine may just be the tip of the iceberg for Wells Fargo and its shareholders.

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Long believes the uncertainty surrounding Wells Fargo’s future will likely lead to several quarters of downward EPS revisions and could put the stock’s historical valuation premium at risk. Even after Wells Fargo’s recent sell-off, the stock’s price/tangible book value of 1.6 is still well above those of big bank peers JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM (1.4), Citigroup Inc C (0.7), and Bank of America Corp BAC (0.9).

Long also points out that in the current interest rate environment, Wells Fargo’s fundamentals remain weak. He highlights net interest margin pressures, sluggish revenue growth and negative operating leverage.

Raymond James cut Wells Fargo from Market Perform to Underperform and has reduced its 2016/2017 EPS estimates from $4.02/$4.12 to $4.00/$3.94.

Disclosure: the author is long C.