Stifel Nicolaus raises outlook on Wells Fargo

Analysts with financial services firm Stifel Nicolaus have raised their fourth quarter earnings outlook for Wells Fargo, making it the only large cap bank they cover that they believe will outperform the third quarter.

The Monday research note raises the earnings per share estimate to 75 cents from 72 cents. The San Francisco-based bank earned 72 cents per share in the third quarter.

The change is due to a better outlook for mortgage banking income based on the average unclosed pipeline through the past year, the note says. That should outweigh lost revenue from provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

"WFC is the only large cap bank under our coverage in which we and the consensus believe it can overcome the sequential-quarter negative ramifications of the lost debit interchange fees from the implementation of the Durbin Amendment," the note reads.