The 10 top-searched stocks of 2014: Bank of America is No. 5
Yahoo Finance is taking a look at what’s driving the most-searched corporate stocks of 2014 according to Yahoo.com.
Number five on the list was Bank of America (BAC). It was also the only financial stock in the top 10, something that surprised our panel of Yahoo Finance experts.
“Wow, is that a change over the last six or seven years,” remarked Jeff Macke.
We should note that Bank of America is a sponsor of investing content published by Yahoo Originals.
“It’s a company that a lot of our users do business with every day,” points out Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task. Bank of America is the country’s second largest consumer bank behind JP Morgan Chase (JPM) with $884 billion and $1 trillion in deposits, respectively. “They might think, ‘Oh, I like or I dislike their products, so I want to see how the stock is doing.’”
One other theory? “I think people check out Bank of America just to see how many billions it still owes in penalties and fines dating back to the financial collapse,” said Rick Newman.
This summer BofA agreed to pay a record $16.65 billion settlement to the Justice Department over knowingly selling toxic mortgages. Since the crisis, the bank has incurred some $60 billion in fees, settlements and losses.
“Maybe the hangover’s gone after what we saw from the great financial meltdown,” said Macke. “But it remains to be seen. These companies still paying a lot of fines [and] they’re everybody’s favorite whipping boy in D.C."
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Still, there is upside here. As Task points out, Bank of America traded in line with the S&P and there could be room for the bank, and for financial stocks in general, to make a comeback in 2015.
“An improving economy and the sign that interest rates are going higher is something that’s gonna get people interested in Bank of America stock, just as a play on the U.S. economy and banking system,” added Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli.
That’s because low interest rates have reduced the margins on interest rates banks can charge customers on loans. Higher rates should help improve that margin, and thus bank profitability. Fed watchers are eagerly waiting for the Central Bank to signal a rate hike – which would be the first since 2008.
More of the top-searched stocks of 2014: