Oppenheimer Comments on Southeast Banks

Oppenheimer commented on the Southeast banks. In a research report published today, which was intended to provide "an overview of the Southeast banking industry, including current trading valuations, company news and fundamentals, price performance, loan growth and merger & acquisition trends," Oppenheimer stressed that the Southeast bank stocks are down on average 20% in the past 12 months, compared to a 9% decrease in the S&P Regional Bank index. Oppenheimer also pointed out that the average total loans declined by 0.9% in Q1 2011, after reporting small gains in 2010. This is considered to be a temporary setback, however, as banks expect a pickup in activity in the second half of the year, due in part to healthy pipelines for loans. The five best-performing Southeast bank stocks year-to-date are Village B&T Financial VBFC, FNB United Corp FNBN, Bank of Granite GRAN, Crescent Financial CRFN, and Southern Community Financial SCMF. On Wednesday, FNB United Corp lost 1.65% to close the day at $0.60, while Bank of Granite lost 3.09% to end the day at $0.94. Southern Community Financial was more successful, adding 6.88% to its value to close at $2.02. Wednesday's closing values for Crescent Financial and Village B&T Financial were $3.90 and $2.90, respectfully.