With interest rates on the rise, investing in regional banks is cool again. A popular index has returned more than 30% in just the past year, helped by the so-called “Trump bump” in bank stocks.
But as the market is assigning higher valuations to regional banks, as a whole, investors would be better served shopping for quality rather than bargain banks that are cheap for a reason. Below, I’ll outline the case for three regional banks in particular — First Hawaiian(NASDAQ:FHB), First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB).