Should I Buy HOPE? HOPE 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Hope Bancorp Inc (HOPE) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

12.510

1 Day change

-0.48%

52 Week Range

12.790

Analysis Updated At

2026/02/04

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Not a good buy right now for an impatient entry: price is extended short-term (RSI ~75.8) and sitting just below/around the next resistance (R2 ~12.888), with limited upside versus the latest Street target.
Trend is bullish, but near-term reward/risk is less attractive after a +3.12% close and a move above R1 (~12.605).
No Intellectia edge today: AI Stock Picker and SwingMax both show no signal, so there’s no strong tactical “must-buy-now” trigger.
Options positioning is call-heavy (bullish tilt), but activity is very thin, so sentiment read-through is low-confidence.
With no fresh news catalysts and only a Market Perform rating, the setup looks more like a “hold/watch for a pullback toward ~12.15–12.30” than an immediate buy.

Technical Analysis

Price/Trend: Bullish structure with moving averages stacked positively (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200), consistent with an uptrend.
MACD: Histogram +0.0603 and expanding above zero, supporting bullish momentum.
RSI (6): ~75.8 (effectively overbought/extended short-term), increasing the odds of churn or a small pullback rather than a clean immediate continuation.
Key levels: Pivot ~12.147 is the first meaningful support area; R1 ~12.605 has been cleared; next resistance R2 ~12.888 is nearby and may cap near-term upside.
Pattern-based probability: Similar-pattern model suggests modest upside next week and stronger potential over a month, but short-term extension makes entry timing less favorable today.

Options Data

Bullish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Positioning: Open interest put/call ratio at 0.12 = strongly call-skewed (bullish sentiment).
Activity: Today’s volume is extremely low (3 calls, 0 puts), so sentiment signals from volume are weak/illiquid.
Volatility: 30D IV ~59.77 vs historical vol ~32.44 implies options are priced rich versus realized movement; IV rank ~13.7 / IV percentile ~24.7 suggests IV is relatively low versus its own history, but still elevated against realized.
Takeaway: Options lean bullish, but thin liquidity + rich implied vs realized reduces the usefulness for timing a buy here.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Strong latest reported quarter growth (2025/Q4): revenue +20.04% YoY, net income +41.62% YoY, EPS +35.0% YoY.
- Technical trend remains constructive (bullish MA stack, positive MACD).
- Analyst price target was raised recently (to $13 from $12), indicating incremental confidence.
- Call-heavy open interest suggests bullish positioning.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Near-term technical extension: RSI is stretched and price is approaching nearby resistance (R2 ~12.888), limiting immediate upside.
- Analyst stance is still Market Perform (not a buy), and the $13 target is only modestly above the current price (~12.68).
- No news in the past week—no obvious near-term event-driven catalyst.
- Intellectia signals are absent today (no AI Stock Picker or SwingMax buy trigger).
- Options market is very low volume, making sentiment readings less reliable.

Financial Performance

Latest quarter: 2025/Q4.
Revenue: $130.764M, up 20.04% YoY (clear top-line acceleration).
Net Income: $34.466M, up 41.62% YoY (profit growth outpacing revenue).
EPS: $0.27, up 35.00% YoY (solid shareholder earnings momentum).
Trading flows: Hedge funds neutral last quarter; insiders neutral last month (no strong confirmation from smart-money/insider trend).
Congress/influential trading: No recent congress trading data available (no signal from that channel).

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Most recent update (2026-01-28): Keefe Bruyette (Kelly Motta) raised price target to $13 from $12; maintained Market Perform.
Trend read: Price target up, but rating unchanged—Wall Street is acknowledging improvement, yet still views risk/reward as roughly balanced.
Pros (Street view): improving fundamentals and a modestly higher fair value estimate.
Cons (Street view): not enough perceived upside/visibility to justify an upgrade to Buy at current levels.

Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals:

AI Stock Picker: no signal on given stock today.
SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

1 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast HOPE stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for HOPE is 12 USD with a low forecast of 12 USD and a high forecast of 12 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

0 Buy

1 Hold

0 Sell

Hold

Current: 12.570

Low

Averages

High

Current: 12.570

Low

Averages

High

Keefe Bruyette

Kelly Motta

Market Perform

maintain

$12 -> $13

AI Analysis

2026-01-28

Reason