Advertisement
CFG or KEY or WFC
Which Stock Would AI Choose? Citizens Financial Group (CFG) vs. KeyCorp (KEY) vs. Wells Fargo (WFC) Stock Comparison
Key Takeaways
- CFG trades at $57.02 with a YTD return of 1.69%, benefiting from recent analyst upgrades like Baird's Outperform rating and projected NII growth of 10-12%.
- KEY at $19.41 shows YTD gains of 5.03% but recent volatility, supported by Q4 earnings beats and a $1.2B share repurchase plan.
- WFC, the largest by market cap at $243.6B, has faced YTD pressure at -$16.33% amid housing challenges, yet holds a low P/E of 12.40.
- Regional banks CFG and KEY offer higher dividend yields around 4% versus WFC's 2.3%, with similar betas near 1.09.
- All three exhibit resilient Q4 earnings, with analyst targets suggesting 20-28% upside, amid stabilizing net interest income in recent market activity.
Introduction
This comparison evaluates CFG, KEY, and WFC, three prominent U.S. banks spanning regional and national scales. As regional players, Citizens Financial Group and KeyCorp focus on consumer and commercial banking in key markets, while Wells Fargo offers broader national reach with diverse services. Investors seeking exposure to banking sector recovery—driven by stabilizing interest rates and loan growth—will find value in assessing their relative performance, valuations, and momentum in the current environment. Traders monitoring sector rotation amid economic shifts may also benefit from this head-to-head analysis of stock comparison and market positioning.
CFG Overview and Recent Performance
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) is a major regional bank operating primarily in the Northeast and Midwest, offering retail and commercial banking, wealth management, and capital markets services. In recent market activity, CFG has shown resilience, trading around $57 with a 52-week range of $32.60-$68.79 and YTD return of 1.69%. Q4 2025 earnings exceeded expectations with EPS of $1.13 and revenue of $2.16B, fueled by higher net interest income and fees. Analyst upgrades, including Baird's shift to Outperform with a $65 target, reflect optimism on 10-12% NII growth and $700M-$850M buybacks. Sentiment has been buoyed by strong consumer finances, though recent weeks saw pullbacks amid broader banking sector volatility.
KEY Overview and Recent Performance
KeyCorp (KEY) provides banking and financial services across the U.S., emphasizing commercial, retail, and investment banking in the Midwest and Northeast. Shares hover near $19.41, within a 52-week range of $12.73-$23.35, posting a YTD gain of 5.03%. Recent performance reflects Q4 beats with adjusted EPS of $0.41 and revenue up 12% YoY, alongside a $1.2B repurchase authorization and 7% revenue growth outlook. Morgan Stanley raised its target to $26, supporting sentiment. However, shares faced pressure from AI scam concerns and deposit cost dynamics, contributing to volatility in recent weeks despite robust loan momentum.
WFC Overview and Recent Performance
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) is a diversified financial giant with extensive retail, commercial, and investment banking operations nationwide. At $77.60, within $58.42-$97.76 over 52 weeks, it lags YTD at -16.33% amid housing affordability headwinds. Q4 revenue hit $21.29B with EPS of $1.76 beating estimates, though guidance drew scrutiny. Analyst targets average $96+, with Truist at $94 Buy. Recent regulatory easing on capital rules aids positioning, but valuation debates and macro concerns have weighed on shares in recent market activity, contrasting its scale advantages.
Trending AI Robots
Tickeron’s Trending AI Robots page curates the top performers from its library of over 350 AI trading bots, each employing unique strategies, timeframes, and ticker sets to navigate current market conditions. Only the most promising—showing superior win rates, profit factors, and returns—earn a spot in this dynamic section, helping users identify bots suited to volatility in sectors like semiconductors, energy, and small caps. Stats reveal impressive ranges: annualized returns from 15% to 188%, win rates of 55-89%, and profit factors up to 12.17 across thousands of simulated trades. For instance, a multi-agent bot on USAR, SMR, CIFR boasts +188% annualized with 75% wins. Explore these high-performing AI tools tailored for diverse trading styles and visit Trending AI Robots to integrate them into your strategy.
Head-to-Head Comparison
CFG, KEY, and WFC operate in banking but differ in scale: WFC’s $244B market cap dwarfs CFG ($24B) and KEY ($21B), enabling broader diversification yet exposing it to national risks like housing slowdowns. Growth drivers include NII stabilization for all, with CFG and KEY targeting buybacks and organic expansion amid regional loan strength. Recent momentum favors KEY YTD (+5%), over CFG (+1.7%) and WFC (-16%), though all pulled back monthly. Risk factors: similar betas ~1.09 signal sector sensitivity; regionals face credit stress in lower-score borrowers, while WFC contends with regulatory legacy. Valuation-wise, WFC (P/E 12.4) and KEY (12.8) trade cheaper than CFG (14.8), with higher yields on regionals (~4% vs. 2.3%). Sentiment leans positive on earnings resilience but cautious on macro positioning.
Tickeron AI Verdict
Tickeron’s AI currently favors CFG for its trend consistency post-earnings, analyst momentum, and balanced regional exposure with upside catalysts like NII growth. While KEY shows stronger YTD relative performance and WFC offers scale stability, CFG’s positioning suggests higher probability of outperformance in stabilizing banking trends, based on observable metrics.
Disclaimer
The information on this webpage is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation to purchase or sell any security, or an offer or solicitation related to investments. It does not consider your personal financial situation, goals, or risk profile, and all investing carries inherent risks, including the possibility of losing your entire investment. For more details, please review our full disclaimer. Disclaimers and Limitations
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is undervalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
CFG’s FA Score shows that 3 FA rating(s) are green whileKEY’s FA Score has 2 green FA rating(s), and WFC’s FA Score reflects 2 green FA rating(s).
- CFG’s FA Score: 3 green, 2 red.
- KEY’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
- WFC’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
CFG’s TA Score shows that 6 TA indicator(s) are bullish while KEY’s TA Score has 6 bullish TA indicator(s), and WFC’s TA Score reflects 6 bullish TA indicator(s).
- CFG’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
- KEY’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
- WFC’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 5 bearish.
Price Growth
CFG (@Regional Banks) experienced а +0.44% price change this week, while KEY (@Regional Banks) price change was +1.58% , and WFC (@Major Banks) price fluctuated -4.67% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Regional Banks industry was +1.58%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +6.76%, and the average quarterly price growth was +20.92%.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Major Banks industry was +2.59%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +8.32%, and the average quarterly price growth was +22.02%.
Reported Earning Dates
CFG is expected to report earnings on Jul 16, 2026.
KEY is expected to report earnings on Jul 21, 2026.
WFC is expected to report earnings on Jul 14, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Regional Banks (+1.58% weekly)Regional banks have a smaller reach than major banks, and cater mostly to one region of a country, such as a state or within a group of states. They offer services often similar – albeit with some limitations/smaller scale – compared to major banks. Taking deposits, making loans, mortgages, leases, credit cards , fund management, insurance and investment banking. SunTrust Banks, State Street Corp., M&T Bank Corp. are some examples of U.S. regional banks.
@Major Banks (+2.59% weekly)Major banks are among the biggest companies in the world, often times with global reach and market capitalizations in the multi-billions. Large banks often have multiple arms spanning different disciplines, from deposits, to investment banking, to wealth management and insurance. The biggest banks often have key competitive advantages over smaller players in the industry in terms of brand recognition, cost of capital, and efficiency. Think J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup.
| CFG | KEY | WFC | |
| Capitalization | 27.5B | 23.7B | 249B |
| EBITDA | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Gain YTD | 11.115 | 6.666 | -12.221 |
| P/E Ratio | 15.27 | 13.37 | 12.58 |
| Revenue | 8.25B | 7.29B | 83.7B |
| Total Cash | 11.6B | N/A | 34.8B |
| Total Debt | 11.3B | 11B | 193B |
CFG | KEY | WFC | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 38 | 37 | 28 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 81 Overvalued | 79 Overvalued | 74 Overvalued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 45 | 73 | 22 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 7 | 8 | 2 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 11 | 14 | 52 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 31 | 92 | 53 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
WFC's Valuation (74) in the Major Banks industry is in the same range as KEY (79) in the Major Banks industry, and is in the same range as CFG (81) in the Regional Banks industry. This means that WFC's stock grew similarly to KEY’s and similarly to CFG’s over the last 12 months.
WFC's Profit vs Risk Rating (22) in the Major Banks industry is in the same range as CFG (45) in the Regional Banks industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for KEY (73) in the Major Banks industry. This means that WFC's stock grew similarly to CFG’s and somewhat faster than KEY’s over the last 12 months.
WFC's SMR Rating (2) in the Major Banks industry is in the same range as CFG (7) in the Regional Banks industry, and is in the same range as KEY (8) in the Major Banks industry. This means that WFC's stock grew similarly to CFG’s and similarly to KEY’s over the last 12 months.
CFG's Price Growth Rating (11) in the Regional Banks industry is in the same range as KEY (14) in the Major Banks industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for WFC (52) in the Major Banks industry. This means that CFG's stock grew similarly to KEY’s and somewhat faster than WFC’s over the last 12 months.
CFG's P/E Growth Rating (31) in the Regional Banks industry is in the same range as WFC (53) in the Major Banks industry, and is somewhat better than the same rating for KEY (92) in the Major Banks industry. This means that CFG's stock grew similarly to WFC’s and somewhat faster than KEY’s over the last 12 months.
| CFG | KEY | WFC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 54% | 3 days ago 59% | 3 days ago 71% |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 60% | 3 days ago 66% | 3 days ago 62% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 76% | 3 days ago 69% | 3 days ago 74% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 74% | 3 days ago 61% | 3 days ago 63% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 66% | 3 days ago 65% | 3 days ago 61% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 64% | 3 days ago 60% | 3 days ago 57% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 5 days ago 64% | 3 days ago 61% | 3 days ago 61% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 21 days ago 62% | 5 days ago 70% | 5 days ago 59% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 53% | 3 days ago 70% | 3 days ago 67% |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 59% | 3 days ago 62% | 3 days ago 55% |
Advertisement
CFG and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, CFG has been closely correlated with TFC. These tickers have moved in lockstep 91% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is a high statistical probability that if CFG jumps, then TFC could also see price increases.