HarborOne sinks on Coastway deal, Compass Point downgrades to "neutral"

HarborOne Bancorp

15/03/2018 14:33

** Shares of HarborOne Bancorp Inc  HONE.O  plunged as much
as 13 pct early Thurs on news of Coastway Bancorp Inc  CWAY.O 
acquisition; Compass Point downgrades to "neutral" from "buy"
    ** Shares currently down 12.0 pct at $17.45; biggest
percentage loser in Nasdaq Banking index  .IXBK 
    ** Meanwhile, CWAY stock jumped nearly 23 pct on the merger
news  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1QX4TT; an all-cash deal worth about $125.6 mln
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw5qL869a
    ** Compass Point lead analyst Laurie Havener Hunsicker
writes that "CWAY appears to be a solid bank; however, in our
view, the financial metrics don't make sense"
    ** Notes that HONE currently trades at 126 pct
fully-converted tangible book value
    ** Both analysts covering HONE now rate the bank "hold"
    ** Today's slide drags HONE stock into negative territory in
2018, down >7 pct since the beginning of the year
    ** Meanwhile, the IXBK has gained ~6 pct over the same time
period

 (Reporting by Stephen Culp)
 ((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))