BUZZ-Piper Sandler assumes coverage of five US Northeast banks

** Piper Sandler assumes coverage of WesBanco WSBC.O, First Commonwealth Financial FCF.N, Financial Institutions FISI.O, Northwest Bancshares NWBI.O and WSFS Financial WSFS.O

** Brokerage cities WSBC's above‑peer returns and underappreciated EPS growth driven by the successful acquisation of Premier Financial, solid loan momentum, and net interest margin expansion

** FCF delivers an above-peer return profile with accelerating EPS growth, supported by net interest margin expansion and mid-single-digit commercial loan growth; FCF also trades below peers on valuation, brokerage says

** Piper sees FISI's return improvement as mostly priced in, with growth flattening and earnings momentum lagging peers, despite some NIM uplift; valuation remains discounted but lacking a catalyst

** Despite a commercial-lending rebuild, NWBI's overall growth is too weak and credit costs may rise near-term; earnings growth is modest and risk-reward skews to the downside, leaving shares fairly valued, brokerage says

** Piper sees WSFS remains a strong performer but slower 2026 EPS growth limits upside; profitability stays above-peer, but shares already trade at a premium valuation

(Reporting by Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru)

((Pragyan.Kalita@thomsonreuters.com))