Time to buy bank stocks?

After drop, a potential bargain in bank stocks

Excerpts:

Bank shares are so cheap and their dividends so high that some of the world's biggest investors now say the combination is unbeatable.

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The last time Bank of America and Wells Fargo had yields that high was in the early 1990s, just before a 44 percent advance in financial stocks.

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At Wells Fargo, the yield jumped to 5.5 percent on Sept. 28, 1990. The lender soared 120 percent the following year, compared with a 26 percent advance in the S&P 500. Wells Fargo's current indicated yield stands at 3.59 percent.

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Dividend yields of U.S. banks now exceed those of telephone companies and utilities, which have averaged the highest cash payouts in the S&P 500 in the past five years, according to Bloomberg data.

The 30-member S&P 500 Utilities index yields a 2.88 percent dividend, 27 percent less than the KBW Bank index. The S&P 500 Telecommunication Services index yields 3.03 percent.

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WFC on Google Finance