We recently compiled a list of the 8 Most Profitable Bank Stocks To Buy According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) stands against the other AI stocks investors shouldn’t miss.
The US Banking Industry: Expectations from the New Admin
Financials is one of the sectors being deemed as winner post Trump’s victory with investors betting on looser regulation and higher M&A activity. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon pointed to the optimism in the environment, saying:
“There has been a meaningful shift in CEO confidence, particularly following the results of the US election”
Yahoo reported that Gabelli Funds portfolio manager Mac Sykes thinks that the deregulation will benefit the banks and that he forecasts lighter oversight of the banking market as a catalyst for the group.
While many are looking forward to the possibility of finally being able to make acquisitions in the financial space under the new US admin, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti joined CNBC and stated that he doesn’t think there is going to be a lot of deregulation. Rather, he sees a rationalization of the existing banking regulation, which he thinks is appropriate for big banks that shouldn’t be ‘massively deregulated’. Simultaneously, he sees consolidation allowed in the US among second-tier banks.
At the same time, Bank of New York Mellon CEO Robin Vince is more optimistic about Trump’s return to the White House in terms of the impact on the financial sector. As he joined Yahoo Finance at the 2025 World Economic Forum, he was not that concerned regarding the risks tied to potential loose regulation. He stated:
“To see a government that’s really focused on growth and being able to make the economy everything that it can be, because ultimately, as one of America’s leading banks, we are focused on helping our customers to be able to grow and thrive. You know, that’s what our platforms are all about”
Our Methodology:
In order to compile a list of the 8 most profitable bank stocks to buy according to analysts, we used stock screeners to shortlist bank stocks with over $1 billion TTM net income. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 8 stocks from our list which had the highest average upside potential, as of February 3. The 8 most profitable bank stocks to buy according to analysts have been arranged in ascending order of their average upside potentials.
At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A woman discussing her mortgage plan with a banker in the office of the bank.
East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)
Average Upside Potential: 15.57%
TTM Net Income: $1.166 Billion
East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) is the holding company for East West Bank. East West Bank started operating in 1973 as a federally chartered savings institution catering to the immigrant Chinese-American community and has evolved into a full-service commercial bank serving the US and China markets over time.
East West Bank is a leading regional bank and is among the few US banks with a full banking license in China. East West Bank holds the privilege of being the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California. While it has 98 US branches in leading metropolitan markets, 4 branches in Asia support cross-border business. Other than having decades of cross-border expertise and serving an attractive market niche with high-growth demographics, a comparison with peers shows that East West has demonstrated strong profitability while outperforming peers on credit over the past decade.
Apart from boasting industry-leading profitability, East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) recently posted a record income of $1.2 billion for the full year 2024. Based on the strength of its customer relationships, the firm was successful in growing deposits by more than $7 billion over the year. Simultaneously, the strength in wealth management, lending, and deposit account fees led to fee income rise of 12% year-over-year.
Overall EWBC ranks 8th on our list of the most profitable bank stocks to buy according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of EWBC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than EWBC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
