UBSI - United Bankshares: Holding The Course

2024-03-31 02:21:08 ET

Summary

• United Bankshares has seen improvement in its fundamental picture, leading to a 21% increase in share price.
• Deposits and loans have increased, while uninsured deposit exposure has declined.
• Despite solid performance, the stock is fairly valued and lacks distinguishing factors, leading to a 'hold' rating.

Over the past year, I have found myself looking deeply into the financial sector, especially focusing on commercial regional banks. One of the larger players that I ended up analyzing is a company by the name of United Bankshares ( UBSI ). With a market capitalization of $4.63 billion as of this writing, the firm is not exactly a giant in the banking sector. But it's far from small. In an article that I wrote about it in August of 2023, I acknowledged that shares had not recovered most of the downside that they experienced during the banking crisis earlier that year. But after digging deeper, I recognized that shares were trading at rather lofty multiples. This led me to rate the business a ‘hold’ to reflect my view that the stock would be unlikely to outperform the broader market for the foreseeable future....

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