Bank of America does not 'need' big buy to prop up EPS in '07 - research report

Bank of America, the listed North Carolina bank, does not "need" to do a major deal to sustain earnings per share in 2007, Citigroup reports.
Citigroup made the remarks in a 5 January research report about multiple banks. The report was prepared by Keith Horowitz, Brian Mauney, and Stephen Kapsky, and discussed the outlook for multiple US banks in 2007.
In discussing Bank of America, the report said that the company has "significant fuel" to power growth via organic means. The report characterized "fears" that a "large international" buy could take place in the near future as "overblown." The report said that its analysis of Bank of America's business performance during 2006 versus its guidance showed the company performed at or above expectations.
The report said that, in general, Citigroup expects 2007 to show "below trend" growth, with growth at about 4% versus 14% during 2006.
However, Citigroup believes that in 2008, the company's earnings per share will reflect growth of 11%.
Bank of America had a market cap of USD 239.9bn in morning trading on 11 January.