5 Bank Earnings Winners From Jefferies

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin on Friday highlighted five regional bank "winners" based on first-quarter earnings reports this week.

The analyst said that in addition to beating consensus earnings estimates, the group of five banks "have also put up decent loan growth and kept net interest margin relatively stable," which isn't easy in the prolonged low-rate environment.

Usdin said the only "definitive miss" this week was First Horizon National (FHN) of Memphis, Tenn., which on Thursday reported first-quarter net income available to common shareholders of $30.5 million, or 12 cents a share, missing the consensus EPS estimate of 13 cents, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, which the analyst blamed on higher-than-expected mortgage putback expenses, along with net interest margin pressure.

The analyst said that "as expected," industry "loan growth has moderated in the first quarter, driven by a seasonal slowdown in commercial and industrial lending and continued real estate-related run-off, adding that "management teams continue to sound upbeat about growth prospects for the remainder of the year."

Heading into next week, Usdin thinks that Signature Bank (SBNY) and SVB Financial Group (SIVB) "could fare better on loan growth," while Regions Financial (RF) and Zions Bancorporation (ZION) , "could be a bit more challenged."

Usdin also said that among banks that haven't yet reported, SunTrust (STI) "is most exposed" to new mortgage repurchase claims.

The following are the five regional bank earnings winners for this week, from Jefferies: