Research Alert: CFRA Keeps Buy Recommendation On Shares Of Cullen/frost Bankers, Inc.
CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:We raise our target price by $5 to $185, 16.6x our 2027 EPS estimate, a premium to CFR's five-year forward P/E average of 14.5x given its superior balance sheet growth. We increase our 2026 EPS view by $0.70 to $10.54 and raise 2027's by $0.57 to $11.17. CFR has grown rapidly, but this growth has been accompanied by expense increases that outpaced revenue growth, resulting in negative operating leverage. This trend is now reversing. CFR raised its net interest margin and loan guidance this quarter while keeping expense guidance unchanged, which means CFR is now on pace for positive operating leverage and record EPS in 2026, a year earlier than we previously anticipated. Additionally, despite industry-wide concerns about commercial real estate, lower-income consumers, and non-bank financial institutions, CFR maintains excellent credit quality. Its net charge-offs are running at half the peer average in recent quarters. The company is also well-capitalized to weather a downturn, with a CET1 ratio of 14.1%.
