After Rising 230% This Year, This Emerging Crypto Stock Could Still Be Cheap
At a quick glance, Customers Bancorp (NYSE: CUBI) may look like another traditional regional bank in Pennsylvania. But the company has been executing a playbook that has driven similar companies to much higher valuations and market capitalizations. And this playbook also involves getting into the crypto space. The market has taken notice, driving up the stock more than 225% so far this year. But given the bank's potential and other banks that have made similar moves, I think this stock could have a lot of runway left. Here's why.
Customers is already at the forefront of technology in the banking sector. One of its strengths is lending in tandem with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) allowing banks to make loans to riskier businesses that are partially guaranteed by the government. The bank built an end-to-end platform that combines loan origination, funding, servicing, and forgiveness for businesses across the country. Customers asserts that this platform has enabled borrowers to close on SBA loans in as little as 30 days, which is very fast in the SBA world -- some SBA loan applications require 148 documents.
When Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as part of broader stimulus bills to quickly aid businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic, it presented a phenomenal opportunity for Customers because, while different, the PPP program is based on the traditional SBA program. Customers did not miss a beat, funding roughly 350,000 PPP loans for a whopping $10 billion in total volume. When all is said and done, Customers will reap $346 million in fees from its PPP originations.
Source Fool.com
