Whitney Holding CorporationWTNY

Morningstar Rating

Stock Research and Analysis

by Jaime Peters, CFA, CPA

Whitney Holdings is a regional bank on the Gulf Coast. With headquarters in New Orleans, the bank quickly bounced back and even reaped rewards from Hurricane Katrina. However, we believe that the recession is taking the wind out of its sails and that Read more

Bulls Say

As the largest business bank based in the greater New Orleans region, Whitney is in a unique position to benefit from the loan demand of the post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts.

Whitney's deposit base has increased substantially from pre-Katrina levels, as hurricane settlements flood the bank with deposits. Read more

Bears Say

Whitney's bloated expense structure will continue. Management's goal for the ratio is simply "down," without any specific methodology laid out as to how it will accomplish this.

Management is looking at larger, potentially expensive acquisitions in Florida and Texas. The deteriorating economy and real estate markets call acquisitions into question at this point. Of its Florida loans, 32% were considered criticized as of June 30. Read more

Strategy

Whitney is a relationship-based commercial bank and keeps in close contact with its customers. It concentrates on its credit quality, believing if the loan payments are there, profitability and efficiency Read more

Management

John Hope stepped into the role of CEO and chairman in March 2008 upon the retirement of William Marks. Hope plans to move Whitney from a "good" bank to a "great" bank but has not laid out a compelling argument on how he will achieve this. One corporate-governance Read more

Profile

Whitney is a bank with $12 billion in assets and headquarters in New Orleans. This commercial bank operates on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Read more

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