JPMorgan refreshed its list of top stock picks heading into April, including a bank stock that’s had a rocky start to the year. Despite a series of crises in the banking sector last month, from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank to the UBS buyout of Credit Suisse , the major averages all saw gains in March. The S & P 500 rose 3.51% in March, marking its second positive month of the year. The Nasdaq Composite rose 6.69% for the month and had its best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.89% last month. To kick off the month of April, JPMorgan added two new names to its focus list: VICI Properties and Regions Financial. VICI Properties has had a strong year. Shares of the real estate investment trust have jumped more than 13% during the past 12 months. Analyst Anthony Paolone said “significant CPI-linked leases drive visible earnings growth, and competitive capital costs allow for accretive investing — both leading to highly visible earnings growth for 2023 and 2024.” Paolone is overweight on the stock and views it as a growth trade. The other new name on the list, Regions Financial , has declined 15% in 2023. However, analyst Vivek Juneja is overweight on the stock. “Regions’ higher excess liquidity should allow it to either maintain a lower cost funding mix than peers or be less impacted from potential regulatory changes around liquidity. In addition, Regions’ stickier deposit mix should allow it to hold up better in the current environment with concerns about deposits,” the analyst wrote. “Regions’ net interest income trends should hold up better due to its hedging profile in the event of any rate cuts expectations by the market,” Juneja added. Returning names on the list include athleisure brand Lululemon and auto manufacturer General Motors . Lululemon shares have popped more than 14% in 2023. The company reported strong sales during the holiday quarter and announced an optimistic outlook for its new fiscal year. GM announced on Tuesday that approximately 5,000 of its white-collar workers had opted to participate in a buyout program announced last month as part of an effort to lower its headcount and fixed costs. GM CFO Paul Jacobson said that the automaker anticipates a roughly $1 billion charge during the quarter from the program. He added that the opt-in program would put GM “in a position” to avoid layoffs. GM shares are up 6.2% in 2023. JPMorgan removed two names from its list: Intellia Therapeutics and Jones Lang LaSalle . —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this story.
