Wells Fargo WFC and PNC Financial PNC are major banking stocks offering broad financial services. Both have been the key competitors in the banking sector, and faced challenges and opportunities influenced by interest rate dynamics, loan growth trends and consumer spending.
Of late, WFC and PNC have experienced significant stock declines due to market reactions to new tariff implementations, reflecting investor concerns about potential economic slowdowns and their impacts on banking operations.
Given such a backdrop, a closer examination of PNC Financial and Wells Fargo’s fundamentals, growth prospects and hurdles will help determine which has more upside potential in 2025.
Wells Fargo & PNC Financial: Different Strategic Focus
PNC Financial has adopted an aggressive, forward-leaning strategy focused on growth, diversification and innovation. This week, PNC Financial’s subsidiary, PNC Bank, entered a definitive agreement to acquire Aqueduct Capital Group. The acquisition will enhance the primary fund placement capabilities of PNC Financial’s subsidiary Harris Williams. In 2024, PNC partnered with Plaid through a bilateral data access agreement, allowing its customers across the United States to share their financial data with various financial applications securely.
In the same year, PNC Financial extended its partnership with TCW Group to offer private credit solutions to middle-market companies. This partnership enabled the bank to gain a significant share of the expanding private credit market. Going forward, the continuation of such efforts to diversify the company’s business mix is likely to drive sustainable profits.
While PNC pursues growth, Wells Fargo is prioritizing strengthening risk management and compliance infrastructure, its central goal. Under the leadership of CEO Charlie Scharf, the company is making notable strides in solidifying its compliance framework. Per the Reuters report from March, investors and analysts are more optimistic that the asset cap (imposed in 2019 after the fake account scandal) on Wells Fargo will be lifted later this year, following the bank's closure of six regulatory actions in 2025 and 12 since 2019.
Lifting this asset cap will help the company reach a milestone, enabling Wells Fargo to fully leverage its size and capabilities, especially in the highly competitive lending space.
Branch Battles – PNC Vs WFC
As digital banking continues to evolve, PNC Financial and Wells Fargo are proving that brick-and-mortar still matters. Both are actively investing in their branch networks, but with sharply different strategies. PNC is expanding aggressively into new markets, while Wells Fargo is doubling down on optimizing its existing footprint.
PNC Financial is betting on geographic expansion. After years of strategic growth and acquisitions, it is now focused on deepening its physical footprint. In February 2024, the company announced a $1-billion investment to open more than 100 branches and renovate above 1,200 existing ones. By November 2024, it raised that commitment to $1.5 billion, targeting more than 200 new branches in 12 high-growth U.S. cities, including Austin, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Houston and San Antonio. With an existing network of more than 2,200 branches, these efforts are set to boost PNC Financial’s scale and presence significantly.
In contrast, Wells Fargo is taking a more calculated approach. Rather than expanding its branch network, which stood at 4,155 as of the first quarter of 2025, the bank is focused on upgrading its existing locations. The bank's branch count declined 2% year over year, part of a broader effort to optimize branch locations based on usage and profitability. In 2024, Wells Fargo completed the upgradation of 730 branches and plans to update all branches in the next five years, improving both staffing models and technology. The focus includes rolling out digital account opening tools and other in-branch digital enhancements that streamline the customer experience.
Wells Fargo & PNC Financial’s Impressive Capital Distribution
Both companies are showcasing strong capital distribution programs that reflect confidence in their liquidity and earnings stability. WFC and PNC are required to undergo annual stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve before they can announce their capital distribution plans.
WFC and PNC hiked their quarterly dividends in July 2024. PNC increased quarterly cash dividends 3.2% from the prior payout to $1.60 per share. PNC Financial has raised its dividend four times in the past five years. Meanwhile, WFC raised its dividend 14% to 40 cents per share. Wells Fargo has raised its dividend six times in the past five years.
At present, PNC has a dividend yield of 3.61% and WFC has a yield of 2.12%.
Dividend Yield
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PNC Financial has a share repurchase program in place. A 100-million share repurchase plan was authorized in the second quarter of 2022. As of March 31, 2025, the company had remaining board authority to repurchase up to 40.5 million common shares. Similarly, in July 2023, Wells Fargo’s board of directors authorized a share repurchase program worth $30 billion. As of March 31, 2025, the company had remaining board authority to repurchase up to $3.8 billion of common stock.
PNC & WFC’s Near-Term Headwinds
PNC Financial and Wells Fargo’s performance is influenced by the Fed’s interest rate cuts and overall economic growth. The Fed lowered the interest rates by 100 basis points in 2024 in response to moderating inflation and softening growth. Now, given market uncertainty, the Fed kept the interest rates steady at 4.25-4.5% at the May 6-7 FOMC meeting. The Fed Chair Jerome Powell has noted that there is no “need to be in a hurry” to make any monetary policy change until there is clarity on the impacts of Trump's tariffs on employment and inflation. As such, interest rates are likely to stay higher for a longer time.
Subdued economic growth is likely to suppress loan demand, particularly in areas like commercial lending and mortgages. As demand for loans weakens, PNC and WFC can see lower NII growth, a key driver of bank earnings.
Additionally, the expectations of higher for longer interest rates are likely to cause a spike in delinquency rates, mainly in the consumer loan portfolio. This will, thereby, hurt both companies’ asset quality.
In the past three months, Wells Fargo shares have lost 2.7% compared with PNC Financial’s decline of 4.9%. Meanwhile, the industry has moved up 1.6%, while the S&P 500 Index has fallen 0.9%.
Price Performance
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In terms of valuation, Wells Fargo’s trailing 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 12.30X, whereas PNC Financial’s is 11.19X. Thus, PNC is inexpensive compared with Wells Fargo. Additionally, both stocks are trading at a discount compared with the industry’s trailing 12-month P/E ratio of 13.76X.
Price-to-Earnings F12M
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How Do Estimates Compare for WFC & PNC?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WFC’s 2025 sales and EPS implies year-over-year increases of 1.5% and 5.6%, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WFC’s 2026 sales and EPS implies year-over-year increases of 4.9% and 13.8%, respectively.
WFC’s EPS estimates for 2025 have moved lower over the past seven days while for 2026, estimates have remained unchanged.
WFC Estimate Revision Trend
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PNC’s 2025 sales and EPS indicates year-over-year increases of 5.7% and 8.9%, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PNC’s 2026 sales and EPS implies year-over-year increases of 5.4% and 12.1%, respectively.
PNC’s EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been revised upward over the past seven days.
PNC Estimate Revision Trend
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End Note on Wells Fargo & PNC Financial Analysis
While WFC is making notable progress in reinstating its regulatory credibility and modernizing its operations, PNC is the more forward-looking and dynamic of the two. Its aggressive expansion plans, partnerships and strategic diversification into private credit indicate its evolving business model.
With superior earnings growth projections, a more aggressive branch expansion strategy, and a stronger dividend yield, PNC Financial is better-positioned to capitalize on long-term opportunities. Also, in terms of valuation, PNC appears attractive than Wells Fargo.
Analyst sentiment is shifting in PNC's favor, as evidenced by upward earnings estimate revisions. This adds to the bullish case for investors who look for improving fundamentals.
PNC and WFC both currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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