FRC - First Republic Bank lands on Wedbush's best ideas list amid rising rates

Wedbush analyst David Chiaverini on Friday has added First Republic Bank ( NYSE: FRC ) to his best ideas list as the regional lender is poised to experience consistent above-average growth in the wake of rising interest rates.

Also, "loan growth should also be bolstered by strong capital call line utilization rates at the upper end of the historical range of 30-35%," Chiaverini, who rates FRC as Outperform, wrote in a note to clients.

Given its focus on residential mortgage lending with low loan-to-value ratios, the analyst is expecting First Republic's ( FRC ) credit quality to outpace peers.

Overall, First Republic ( FRC ) "has significant opportunity to raise loan pricing while still being able to generate strong loan growth, and this should power NII higher with the added benefit of modest NIM expansion in coming quarters," Chiaverini explained.

Meanwhile, Chiaverini's Outperform rating diverges from the Quant system's view of Hold with the poorest mark in valuation. The Average Wall Street Analyst , though, sees FRC as a Buy (8 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 10 Hold, 1 Strong Sell).

Shares of First Republic ( FRC ) are inching up 0.1% in premarket trading.

At the beginning of July, First Republic got upgraded to Outperform at Atlantic Equities on stable NIM .

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