Bank of America (BAC) is not a stock that has gotten my attention very often in recent years, but last week after the shares dropped to $47 and the company boosted its dividend yet again, I switching into the bullish camp (from neutral) for the stock.

BAC currently yields 5.4%, which is about 50 basis points above the 30-year treasury bond. That also equates to a trailing P/E of 10 times. I am very much aware that investors are spooked about mortgage lending and financial market exposure with the big banks, but compared with larger rivals JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C), Bank of America has less exposure and should fare better should credit issues persist or get worse from here. Not only do they tend to avoid the very low end of the credit spectrum in the mortgage area, but a smaller portion of their profits come from financial markets than the others.

Given where the stock trades, and the enormous dividend yield, I doubt the stock has big downside potential from here, and if the current worries prove to be overblown and BAC’s earnings growth continues, you could get decent capital appreciation in addition to your more than 5% annual payout.

Full Disclosure: The author is long shares of BAC at the time of writing

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