Fifth Third Earnings: Mostly Solid Start to 2024; Maintaining Our Fair Value Estimate of $37

No-moat-rated Fifth Third reported a decent start to 2024. First-quarter revenue was 1% above the FactSet consensus estimate. GAAP earnings per share of $0.70 beat the FactSet consensus estimate of $0.67. Noncore items were a $0.06 drag by our calculations, so we view the EPS beat as closer to $0.09 than $0.03. Net interest income was healthy, in our view, and we would also note that net interest margin ticked up slightly to 2.86% in the first quarter from 2.85% in the fourth quarter after several quarters of declines. Adjusted expenses declined 1%, which highlights management's focus on increasing efficiency. If there was one blemish, it was credit trends, which, while they have worsened, were still healthy, in our view.