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This Month's Exclusive Story Ally Financial Pops on Q4 Earnings Beat and $2 Billion BuybackWritten by Jordan Chussler. Originally Published: 1/23/2026. 
Key Points - The financials sector has been the S&P 500’s worst performer over the past month, posting a loss of 2.99%.
- Shares of financial services firm Ally jumped 7% on Wednesday after the company reported record EPS growth.
- The company also announced that it has authorized a $2 billion stock buyback program.
Over the past month, the financial services sector has been the worst performer in the S&P 500, down 2.99%. Over the past six months, its meager 1.26% gain ranks second-worst. But as Q4 earnings season begins in earnest, bank stocks are already demonstrating the sector's longer-term value as earnings beats and stronger forward guidance seek to reinvigorate investor confidence. Imagine a bull market so powerful, every single investor became a millionaire. Not by finding the next NVIDIA or Bitcoin, but by owning a simple index fund.
It sounds impossible. Yet it happened – just a short time ago. Now a legendary figure says: "Brace yourselves. It's about to happen here, in America. But fair warning – it could be the worst thing that ever happens to you."
This story has received little coverage in the press. But if history repeats, it could bump tens of millions of Americans into a 7-figure net worth practically overnight. Click here for the full story. Such was the case when online bank Ally Financial (NYSE: ALLY) reported Q4 and full-year results on Wednesday, Jan. 21, with the market reacting positively and pushing shares nearly 7% higher. Ally Reports Record Q4 Earnings Growth When Ally posted Q4 earnings, it announced earnings per share (EPS) of $1.09, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02, and quarterly revenue of $2.17 billion—a 4.8% year-over-year (YOY) increase and slightly above analyst expectations of $2.15 billion. Ally's 2025 full-year results included adjusted total net revenue of $8.5 billion and core pre-tax income of $1.6 billion. In the company's earnings call, CEO Michael Rhodes noted the company generated $1.5 billion in written insurance premiums—a record for Ally—alongside year-over-year EPS growth of 62%, also a record. The EPS improvement was welcome after annualized earnings contractions of -38.81%, -44.93%, and -35.02% in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively. Part of 2025's strong performance came from record consumer auto applications: Ally saw 3.8 million in Q4, which equated to $10.8 billion in loan originations. For the full year, originations totaled about $43.7 billion, up 11% YOY. The company also authorized a $2 billion share buyback program and issued 2026 guidance that includes 5% revenue growth. Rhodes said Ally "ended the year with $144 billion in retail deposit balances, reinforcing our position as the largest all-digital direct bank in the United States," and noted the firm "now serve[s] 3.5 million customers as 2025 marked our 17th consecutive year of customer growth." With trailing EPS of $1.66 and a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25.52, Ally Financial's earnings are forecast to grow an eye-catching 53.22% next year, from $3.57 to $5.47 per share. Ally's Dividend Pays Investors to Patiently Wait for the Upside The average 12-month price target of $49.44 for ALLY implies nearly 17% potential upside. With a forward P/E of just 11.88, the stock increasingly looks like a value opportunity. As with most financial institutions, Ally pays a dividend to patient shareholders. Currently, that dividend pays $1.20 annually, representing a 2.83% yield based on today's price. While Ally's dividend payout ratio of more than 72% may raise questions, the company has a five-year annualized dividend growth rate of 12.03%, suggesting the payment is reasonably reliable. The next quarterly payment of $0.30 per share is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 17, to shareholders of record before the ex-dividend date of Monday, Feb. 2. What Wall Street Thinks About Ally Financial So far in January, Ally Financial has been upgraded by Evercore, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America to Outperform, Overweight, and Buy, respectively. Those firms cited improving credit trends and confidence in Ally's widening net interest margin—the difference between interest earned on investments and loans and interest paid on deposits and debt. Of the 18 analysts covering ALLY, 13 assign the stock a Buy rating, five assign it a Hold, and none assign it a Sell. Overall, it receives a Moderate Buy rating. According to TradeSmith, the stock's financial health falls into the Green Zone, where it has been for more than three months. Meanwhile, institutional ownership remains above average at nearly 89%, with inflows of $2.46 billion outpacing outflows of $1.62 billion over the past 12 months. Current short interest stands at 3.5%, or just over 308,000 shares out of 10.7 million shares outstanding. Notably, Ally Financial scores higher than 99% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat and ranks 25th out of 907 stocks in the finance sector.
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