According to UBS, shares of New York Community Bancorp are “too cheap” to rise 50% from here. Analyst Brody Preston has a buy rating on the stock, saying it is well-positioned in a lower interest rate environment due to its deposit portfolio and fee income. The stock was previously rated neutral. “Given our above-consensus earnings outlook and current valuation, we believe the risk/reward is skewed to the upside and see room for a re-rating for NYCB as it beats expectations,” Preston said in a note Wednesday. NYCB 5D mountain NY Community Bancorp stock 5-day NY Community Bancorp stock is down more than 24% this year. Bank stocks are down more than 12% this week and more than 14% last week, as they were hit hard by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Regardless, the analyst lowered his price target to $10 from $10.50 previously, assuming shares can rise 54% from Tuesday’s close. Shares of NY Community Bancorp fell 1% in premarket trading Wednesday. NY Community Bancorp is a name that beats consensus EPS estimates for 2024, considering the bank’s deposit portfolio could benefit from a rate cut, the analyst said. “Our consensus estimate above is driven by 1) our better-than-consensus NIB portfolio outlook (20.1% for 2024E vs. 15.6% consensus), and 2) our eight-quarter reduction in the federal funds rate points incorporated into estimates for 4Q23-4Q24, and 3) our expectations for higher mortgage-related revenue items, particularly loan fees/charges and loan management revenue, which we believe have been overlooked/misunderstood ,” Preston wrote. “Also, NYCB trades at ~5x our 2024 EPS and ~75% of the industry’s earnings multiple, both ~1.0-2.0 standard deviations below the long-term pro forma average (NYCB/FBC’s average) ,” Preston added. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.