Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Kindly give me your opinion on a regional bank: Sun Bancorp. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Sun Bancorp, $3.83, symbol SNBC on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 86.8 million; Market cap: $332.4 million; www.sunnationalbank.com), owns Sun National Bank, which provides various commercial and consumer banking services in New Jersey. Sun Bancorp operates 50 locations in New Jersey and has around $3.1 billion of assets. It fired former CEO Thomas X. Geisel in December 2013. The company’s stock jumped in early April 2014, after it hired Thomas M. O’Brien as its new chief executive officer. O’Brien is the former CEO of State Bank of Long Island. The new hire has the approval of billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who holds around 25% of Sun Bancorp. Ross specializes in investing in, and turning around, distressed financial firms. Sun Bancorp last posted a profit in 2008, and it continued to lose money in the latest quarter. It has already undertaken a number of measures to restore its profitability and shore up its capital to meet regulatory requirements. These moves include raising capital by issuing shares,…