Macquarie's David Konrad, one of the Wall Street's top analysts, upgraded his rating on Goldman Sachs to outperform from neutral, citing the likelihood of a better environment for the investment bank due to Donald Trump's economic agenda.
"We are recommending a shift in exposure within this space to names that have more leverage to capital markets ... and away from global banks whose multiples may remain suppressed owing to decreased trade and currency volatility, particularly in the EM [emerging markets]," Konrad wrote in note Friday to clients titled "Universal Banks: A new world order."
"We believe GS has more earnings levers than peers, should fiscal stimulus and lower corporate taxes help increase economic activity driving better earnings leverage for the leading global adviser in M&A."
In another move, he downgraded Citigroup shares to neutral from outperform.
"We are downgrading Citi ... as we believe the events such as the US election and Brexit may not favor a global bank such as Citi relative to more domestic stocks," he wrote.
Konrad's picks have a 26 percent one-year average return and an 81 percent success rate for a profit, according to analyst ranking service TipRanks. That places him in the top 10 percent of all Wall Street analysts covering any industry.
