Argus analyst Stephen Biggar kept his Buy rating and $81 price target on SunTrust (STI) after its Q2 results, saying that while the company missed consensus by a penny, its "recent acceleration in loan growth" has been encouraging as the management has also signaled that its merger with BB&T (BBT) remains on track to close later this year. The analyst notes that while SunTrust's net interest margins may compress on lower yield curve environment, the bank's merger synergies should yield above-peer-average return on equity, justifying a premium valuation on the stock.