Citi upgrades Truist to buy because bear case seems ‘flawed’

Citi analyst Keith Horowitz on Wednesday upgraded Truist Financial Corp. TFC to buy despite headwinds in the market on earnings challenges and potential regulatory action. Horowitz said Truist stock now offers an attractive entry point after a 27% loss in the last five days. “The primary risk to our thesis is depositor behavior given market reactions, which could induce deposit flight, but we view this as relatively unlikely,” he said. “The TFC bear case is all about high held-to-maturity (HTM) losses relative to equity and we believe this thesis is flawed.” He said Truist is a “fundamentally different bank” than now-defunct…