UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Upgrades E*TRADE Financial on Good Upside Potential

In a report published Friday, Goldman Sachs analyst Alexander Blostein upgraded the rating on E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) from Neutral to Buy, and raised the price target from $13.50 to $19.00.

In the report, Goldman Sachs noted, “We upgrade ETFC to Buy from Neutral with a 12-month, $19 price target, for 22% upside potential. While ETFC has outperformed YTD (+76% vs. S&P 500 +16% and AMTD/SCHW +58%/52%), the recent regulatory sign-off on ETFC's capital plan creates a significant idiosyncratic opportunity to unlock shareholder value, which could lead to EPS doubling over the next 3 years and is not reflected in consensus estimates or the stock's valuation, in our view. We raise our 2013/2014/2015E EPS to $0.68/$0.85/$1.10 from $0.66/$0.70/$0.85 on debt reduction and continued improvement in credit provisions. We are now 15%/20% above consensus for 2014/15.”

E*TRADE Financial Corporation closed on Thursday at $15.55.