Bank of America Corp (BAC) stock analysis
Bank of America Corp (BAC) clears 5 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 4 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 4 of 5 Lynch-style checks. A free-cash-flow DCF does not fit banking companies, so no margin of safety is shown. It returns +7.6% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Bank of America do?
Bank of America is a large US bank serving consumers, small businesses, corporations and wealthy clients, with branches nationwide, credit cards, an investment bank and the Merrill wealth-management business.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Merrill
- Merrill Edge
- Bank of America Private Bank
What stands out about Bank of America?
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-12.1%); the other 5 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Close to its 52-week low. At $51.08, BAC is 9.3% above its low of $46.72 and 21.2% below its high of $64.81. See the range.
- Dividend raises 1 of 6 flags. Its trailing yield is 2.77%. See the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
- Held by investors this site follows. Warren Buffett (9.2% of its portfolio), from their latest 13F filings. See Superinvestors.
How has Bank of America's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Bank of America undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) n/a (Banking)
- P/E vs. its own history 11.0x · near the cheap end Real range: 9.8x–13.8x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.04/5 28 analysts this month: 6 strong buy, 17 buy, 5 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Up from 4.00 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Banking)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) n/a (bank, insurer or REIT)
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +7.6% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.7% + buybacks 6.1% − stock comp 1.2%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 25%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) n/a (bank, insurer, lender or REIT)
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 0.84 · Under fair P/E 11.0× ÷ 13.1% a year of growth behind it. 73rd lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light (n/a), real profit (n/a) Capital-light growth: cannot be measured (bank, insurer, lender or REIT); Profit is real: cannot be measured (bank, insurer or REIT); Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cleared. See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 2 of 4 measures above the median Compared with the 12 other banking stocks this site tracks: 0 in the top third, 0 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 1/6 flags
How does Bank of America compare with its peers?
2 of 4 measures sit above the median of the 12 other banking stocks tracked here.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 11.1× 11.0× –6th of 13
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 11% 11% –7th of 13
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 28.8% 30.2% –5th of 13
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 3.36% 2.77% –9th of 13
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and BAC doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: BAC converts sales into profit at healthy margins, has grown earnings per share at a solid clip over five years, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: BAC isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, and doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✓
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✓
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and BAC falls short of his bar. In its favor: BAC clears his signature PEG-under-1 test: growth at a reasonable price, is growing earnings at the steady 10-20% pace of a proper Stalwart, isn't asking investors to overpay for that growth, and is backing its growth up with real free cash flow. Where it comes up short: BAC carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets.
- PEG < 1 ✓
- EPS growth 10%-20% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 27 ✓
- Price/FCF < 30 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
From Berkshire Hathaway's SEC 13F-HR filing dated 2026-08-14, compared with its 2026-05-15 filing - its own disclosed position, separate from this site's Buffett-style checklist above. 13F filings cover only U.S.-listed equity holdings and can lag the real portfolio by up to 45 days.
Which of the 8 value filters does Bank of America pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $352.5B
- Trailing P/E < 25 10.97
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 0.84
- Price/Book < 8 1.19
- Price/Sales < 7 2.33
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% -12.1%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Bank of America's margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how banking companies report cash flow.
Where is Bank of America in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Bank of America?
85,650,135 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Bank of America? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case n/a (Banking)
- Short interest under 5% of float 1.3%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 5/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Bank of America shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from BAC's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Bank of America's 10-year financials show?
From BAC's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Bank of America
What kind of company is Bank of America?
Bank of America is a large US bank serving consumers, small businesses, corporations and wealthy clients, with branches nationwide, credit cards, an investment bank and the Merrill wealth-management business. Brands and businesses it owns include Merrill, Merrill Edge and Bank of America Private Bank. This site groups it with Banking stocks.
Why does Bank of America have no margin of safety on this site?
This site's DCF values a company from its free cash flow, and that does not fit banks, whose operating cash flow swings with deposits and loans rather than with what is left over for owners. So BAC gets no margin of safety; judge it on the other checks on this page, such as its filters, shareholder yield and ranking against its peers. The method is in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Bank of America pass?
BAC passes 5 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($352.5B), Trailing P/E < 25 (10.97), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (0.84), Price/Book < 8 (1.19) and Price/Sales < 7 (2.33). It misses EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-12.1%). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
How much cash does Bank of America return to shareholders?
BAC's net shareholder yield is +7.6%: the cash it returns through dividends and buybacks, minus stock-based compensation, as a share of its market value. Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.7% + buybacks 6.1% − stock comp 1.2%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 25%. Its trailing dividend yield is 2.77%, paid out of 8% of its free cash flow; the dividend-sustainability check raises 1 of 6 flags (high leverage). See Shareholder Yield Leaders and the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
Where is Bank of America trading compared with its 52-week range?
At $51.08, BAC trades 9.1% above its 52-week low of $46.72 and 21.2% below its 52-week high of $64.81. The Near 52-Week Low list tracks stocks in that position.
Which well-known investors own Bank of America?
Among the investors whose SEC 13F filings this site tracks, Warren Buffett (9.2% of the portfolio; trimmed the position) held BAC as of June 30, 2026. 13F filings cover only US-listed equities and arrive up to 45 days after the quarter ends, so they lag the real portfolios. See Superinvestors.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Bank of America's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 25, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Bank of America Corp analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Bank of America Corp (BAC) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.