Quick Take on 2Q26 Earnings Result: Broad Based Loan Growth

Research evidence excerpt

Quick Take on 2Q26 Earnings Result: Broad Based Loan Growth

Update

July 17, 2026 09:25 PM GMT

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLCMRegions Financial Corp | North America Manan Gosalia

Equity Analyst

Quick Take on 2Q26 Earnings Manan.Gosalia@morganstanley.comRyan Kenny, CFA +1 212 761-4092

Ryan.Kenny@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-1664

Result: Broad Based Loan Ben Bayanfar

Research Associate

Ben.Bayanfar@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-0649

Growth Alexander L Ward

Alex.Ward@morganstanley.com +1 212 296-3096

Reaction to earnings

Regions Financial Corp (RF.N, RF UN)

Unchanged Modest upside Largely unchanged

Large Cap Banks | United States of America

Impact to our thesis Financial results versus consensus Direction of next 12-month

consensus EPS Stock Rating Equal-weight

Source: Company data, Morgan Stanley Research Industry View Attractive

Price target $35.00

Shr price, close (Jul 17, 2026) $31.65

Mkt cap, curr (mm) $27,186

52-Week Range $32.46-22.71

Our Key Takeaways:

Operating EPS of $0.68 beat consensus by $0.05 (+8%), driven by lower

provision expense and higher fee income.

Loan growth surprised to the upside.

• Coming into the quarter, bears on RF were noting that loan growth could

disappoint due to continued consumer loan runoff and intensifying

competition in Southeast markets. Instead, average loans grew 2% Q/Q, with

average business loans up 4% Q/Q.

• Despite the strong 1H26 results, and continued momentum in pipelines and

commitments, management conservatively held its FY average loan growth

guide at "up low single digits" Y/Y.

• We're raising our 2026/2027 loan growth estimates by +1%, modeling

average loan growth of +3% in 2026, in line with management's guide.

We're increasing 2026/2027 NII estimates by +0.4%/+0.9% and see the risk/