Axos Financial remains ‘top pick’ at Needham

Needham keeps a Buy rating and $85 price target on Axos Financial (AX) after hosting its management team. The firm remains bullish on the company’s growth focused culture, strong loan pipeline, and ongoing hiring of new teams that should help loan growth accelerate moving forward, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Needham adds that it expects credit performance to remain best-in-breed, and the firm is confident that management will continue to deploy excess capital through share repurchases.