Bank of America Corp (BAC)

[vincen71]

Bank of America is making significant progress in working its way out of the hole that its previous leadership had dug it into. Its restructuring efforts and the wave of settlements it's made over the years, of which the MBIA transaction is the latest, demonstrates that management is committed to moving away from the company's legacy and focused instead on bringing Bank of America back to its historic levels of profitability. Meanwhile, the recovering mortgage market and the fertile capital markets augur well for the company's earnings going forward.

Given these factors, we believe that Bank of America will not trail the S&P 500 for long and could see its shares above $18.50 by year's end.