UBS Group (UBS) To Brave Coronavirus Impacts With Low Losses

UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) expects its financials to have a little impact from the coronavirus outbreak as it has been witnessing a comparatively decent lending scenario. The news was reported by Reuters.

Kirt Gardner, the chief financial officer of the company, said that though the impact of the pandemic is expected to be "transformative," the lender witnessed little interruptions in its services. Also, per the article, Gardner sees UBS Group as strong, resilient and well-diversified firm.

"We have a conservative risk profile, a high-quality credit portfolio and relatively limited exposure to highly impacted industries like oil and gas or air transportation, at $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion respectively," Gardner said at the Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) European Financials Conference.

Notably, UBS Group remains on track to achieve the goals related to the restructuring of the wealth management business and the investment banking unit.

Banks all over the world are being significantly affected by the pandemic and its impacts on the global economy. Banks in Europe are concerned about the results of the ongoing quarter, as they are being affected by lockdowns.

Our Take

UBS Group continues to execute restructuring initiatives to free resources and invest in profitable areas to better serve clients. However, the top line remains under pressure due to persistent negative interest rates in the domestic economy.

The company has lost 28% over the past six months compared with 39.6% decline of the industry it belongs to.

Currently, UBS Group carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) , PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) and Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) . All these stocks currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Virtu Financial’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 earnings has been witnessing upward revisions in the past 30 days. Also, its share price has increased 22.7% in the past three years.

PennyMac Financial’s earnings estimates for the current year have been witnessing upward revisions over the past 30 days. Further, the company’s shares have jumped 41.3% in the past three years.

Cohen & Steers’ consensus estimate for current-year earnings has witnessed upward revisions over the past 60 days. Moreover, in the past three years, its shares have gained 31.8%.

Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>