KeyCorp shares could rise sharply: report

19/01/2009 - 12:12

NEW YORK (Reuters) - KeyCorp could see its shares double, or even triple, when the economy revives, if the bank could keep on working out problem loans, according to a report in the January 19 edition of Barron's.

Shares of KeyCorp are "a pretty good deal," according to Morningstar regional-bank analyst Maclovio Pina, who is quoted in the report.

Pina puts KeyCorp's fair value at $16 a share. KeyCorp shares closed at $6.31 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

"It's getting lumped in with some other Ohio and Michigan banks trading at depressed levels," says T. Rowe Price analyst Chris Fortune, in the article.

But it is a little more geographically diversified, and it has better capital ratios than many peers, he added.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)