Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski downgraded U.S. Bancorp to Perform from Outperform as he believes its upside potential to be relatively in line with the broader market. While he stressed in his note to investors that "we don't see anything off the rails at USB and continue to think that it is a fine company that remains a solid long-term holding," Kotowski notes that the stock has outperformed and he thinks upcoming EPS comparisons are likely to be more modest than at most other banks. More broadly on the group, Kotowski contends that "most investors hate banks," although the group "seemed to earn a quantum of respect" in 2019 and he remain broadly positive on bank stocks with returns comparable to history and valuations significantly discounted.