...Improving Earnings, Below Peer Averages: SunTrust Banks, Inc.'s (STI) earnings continue to exhibit improvement, and are approaching large regional bank averages. While STI's earnings benefit from a solid level of non-interest income, its spread earnings are impacted by a relatively weaker margin than peers. STI's overarching strategic objective over the near-term is to improve its efficiency. Moderating Asset Quality Trends: Credit quality metrics continue to improve from their peak in 2009. Similar to others in the industry, STI has reported improvement in NPAs, NCOs, NPL inflows and delinquencies for quite some time now. Fitch notes that credit risk within STI's TDR books is quite manageable with 97% of accruing TDRs current at March 31, 2015. Excluding these TDRs, STI's adjusted NPA ratio falls below the large regional bank average. Diversified Business Model: STI's earnings incorporate a solid level of non-interest income. Some of this comes from SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, with investment...
