Stop Buying Bank of America: Credit Suisse (Update 1)

Updated with late-session bank stock action.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Bank of America (BAC) look quite pricey, even when compared to better performing megabanks.

Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch on Wednesday downgraded Bank of America to a neutral rating from an "Outperform" rating, even though he raised his price target for the shares by a dollar to $12.00. The analyst said that the stock's "current valuation appears to be ahead of the company's near to intermediate-term performance and appears to be discounting significantly faster improvements in efficiency than we would be expecting. At its current valuation, the shares appear to be discounting at least a 16% improvement in costs over the next year vs. our estimate of 10%."

Bank of America's shares were down over 5% in the final hour of trading on Wednesday, to $11.34. While the broad indexes were all holding on to slight gains, the KBW Bank Index (I:BKX) was down 1% to 52.75, with 14 of the 24 index components showing declines.

Shares of Comerica (CMA) were down 1% to $31.54, after Oppenheimer Securities analyst Terry McEvoy downgraded the company to a "Perform" rating from "Market Perform," saying that the recent rise in long-term rates would do nothing for the stock. McEvoy on Wednesday also upgraded KeyCorp (KEY) to "Outperform" from "Perform," with a price target of $11.00, citing the company's improved geographic strategy. Both of these ratings actions are discussed in more detail in TheStreet's earnings preview for regional banks, as is the Wednesday announcement by PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) of several one-time items that will lower third-quarter earnings by 47 cents a share.

PNC's shares were down slightly in late trading, to $60.15.