S&P MAINTAINS STRONG BUY OPINION ON SHARES OF NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP
(Standard & Poor's)
NYB reports Q3 EPS of $0.28 vs. $0.17, above our $0.27 forecast. The upside reflects higher-than-expected net interest margin of 3.17%. We believe NYB is well positioned to gain market share during the economic downturn, due to what we view as strong capital levels and its focus on rent-controlled, multifamily loans with low loan-to-value ratios. We are slightly raising our '09 EPS estimate to $1.06, incorporating the $0.01 upside in Q3. However, we are keeping our 12-month target price of $14, based on a historically low P/E ratio of 12.3X our '10 EPS forecast of $1.14.