Evercore Upgrades Fifth Third After Comerica Systems Conversion

After Fifth Third completed its Comerica systems conversion, Evercore ISI upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) to Outperform from In Line. The firm’s view is that investor attention can now shift toward returns, operating efficiency and commercial-led balance-sheet growth.

Evercore raised its price target to $60 from $57. It also lifted its earnings-per-share estimates to $4.18 from $4.14 for 2026, $5.10 from $5.03 for 2027, and $5.59 from $5.50 for 2028. Those figures are Evercore estimates, not Fifth Third guidance.

The conversion, completed over Labor Day weekend, moved about 600,000 customer accounts and 293 banking centers in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Texas onto Fifth Third’s systems. Fifth Third completed its merger with Comerica on Feb. 1, 2026. The all-stock deal was valued at $10.9 billion when announced in October 2025.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, adjusted earnings were $1.13 per share and diluted earnings were $0.90 per share. Average core deposits rose 3% from the prior quarter to $235.639 billion.

Net interest income on a fully taxable-equivalent basis was $2.276 billion, up 3% sequentially and 49% from a year earlier. The year-over-year increase primarily reflected the addition of Comerica.