Orin
KEYNYSE·Banks - Regional

KeyCorp KEY

Market cap $22.1BP/E 11.7× trailingGross margin 64.5%Reports Tue 20 Oct, before the open
$20.45
+0.20 (+0.99%)live 11:20 ET
52-wk $16.47 – $24.07
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Orin's take
0.62conviction · moderate
Refreshed 20 Aug · take v6. A new filing or a print queues the next refresh.

KeyCorp's FY2025 turnaround is confirmed — revenue grew 23.6% to $11.2B, EPS swung from a $0.32 loss to $1.52, and total debt was cut from $14.2B to $11.0B — but the stock at $22.10 trades at an EV/EBITDA of 19.3x, a 49.5% premium to the peer median of 12.9x, suggesting the earnings recovery is largely reflected. While the P/E of 12.8x and P/S of 2.3x sit 8.3% and 14.7% below peer medians respectively, and aggressive buybacks exceeding $700M in H1 are accretive to per-share metrics, persistent insider net selling of $110M over 24 months and a bearish MACD crossover with RSI at 38.9 temper conviction.

Smart money has improved modestly (score rising from 0.0096 to 0.0239 as of the quarter ended 2026-06-30), but the technical breakdown below the 50-day MA at $22.90 keeps this a wait-and-see situation.

What could go wrong

  • EV/EBITDA premium unwinds. EV/EBITDA of 19.3x runs a 49.5% premium to the peer median of 12.9x; any disappointment in NII trajectory or fee growth could trigger multiple compression.
  • Persistent insider selling. Net insider selling of $110M over 24 months with 131 dispositions vs 129 acquisitions; the CRO sold 25,000 shares at $22.74 on July 22, 2026.
  • Technical deterioration. Stock at $22.10 is below its 50-day MA of $22.90 with RSI at 38.9 and a bearish MACD histogram of -0.041, suggesting near-term downside momentum.
  • Integration and capital allocation risk. Clearwater UK acquisition closed August 2026 and Series D preferred redemption scheduled September 15, 2026; execution risk on both fronts could pressure capital ratios.

What would change my mind

Q3 2026 earnings beat with NII acceleration. Q3 2026 results show net interest income growth exceeding the 10% Q2 pace with upward revision to full-year guidancebullish
EV/EBITDA convergence with peers. EV/EBITDA compresses toward the peer median of 12.9x through either EBITDA growth or share price consolidation below $21bullish
Insider buying reversal. Net insider transactions turn positive over a rolling 3-month window, reversing the $110M net selling trendbullish
Credit quality deterioration. Nonperforming assets or net charge-offs rise materially in Q3 2026 results, signaling the turnaround is not durablebearish

Where this comes from: FMP annual fundamentals + derived_metrics, FY2025 · FMP annual fundamentals, FY2024 and FY2025 · peer_relative, as of 2026-08-19 · peer_relative, as of 2026-08-19. Orin's read on KEY; not advice.

Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-24 · actual filings

Sept 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26

50-day average 200-day average · volume below

Largest holders · 13F Q2 2026

Money flow
FilerPositionOf fund
Vanguard Capital Management$1.5B0.0% of fund
Vanguard Portfolio Management$1.2B0.1% of fund
State Street$1.2B0.0% of fund
Fmr$1.2B0.1% of fund
Geode Capital Management$588.3M0.0% of fund
Invesco$481.5M0.0% of fund

93 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows

Insiders, last 24 months: 261 Form 4 filings, net −$110.0M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 3 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.

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Where it trades

vs its own 5y · Financial Services
MetricNowOwn medianSector
P/E11.7×—21.6×
EV/EBITDA18.3×——
P/S2.09×2.02×—
P/B1.1×1.1×—

Its P/E sits 60th percentile of its own last 5 years (+0.52σ from its own mean).

What the price assumes

-1.3%

free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $2.1B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.

What Wall Street published

51 firms · 2026-09-24
Consensus target

$25

$23 – $28 · +24% against today's price

How they rate it
  • 31 buy or overweight
  • 18 hold
  • 2 underweight or sell

The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.

Against the companies it is compared to

median P/E 12.6× of 4 peers
CompanyMarket capP/EEV/EBITDAGrossNetROE
KEYKeyCorp$22B11.7×18.3×64.5%19.4%10%
CFGCitizens Financial Group, Inc.$27B14.0×9.8×72.4%18.5%8%
FITBFifth Third Bancorp$47B17.4×18.6×68.5%15.8%8%
HBANHuntington Bancshares Incorporated$31B11.3×14.2×63.7%16.6%9%
RFRegions Financial Corporation$23B11.0×7.2×76.8%23.3%12%

The median is of the 4 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 7.1% below it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.

What it has traded at

P/E by fiscal year
FY14 13.8×FY25 13.5×

What its sector has traded at

Financial Services
FY14 29.6×FY26 23.8×

Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.

Discounted cash flow

not recomputed since
ModelFair valueAgainstComputed
Standard DCF$-32$22.23 · −244%2026-06-10
Levered DCF$22$22.23 · −2%2026-06-10

The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.

Every estimate on one scale

price $20.45
52-week range$16 – $24
Analyst targets$23 – $28
Standard DCF$-32 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $22.23
Levered DCF$22 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $22.23
At own 5y-median P/E (8×)$15
At 5y P/E range (-101–14×)$-175 – $24
At sector P/E (22×)$37

The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.